Professional keynote & seminar speaker using the wisdom & persona of Forrest Gump to inspire individuals and companies to self motivate and control own destiny.
Imagine you have a business that operates sloppily.
Your business has lots of sales, lots of employees, lots of activity … but small mistakes are repeatedly made … over and over. Your profitability suffers.
How do you change a corporate culture?
Do you make grand proclamations and send out memos with new rules?
Or do you start with the little things?
This weekend I cleaned my chimney.
I knew it needed cleaning for the past few weeks.
Starting a fire was becoming more and more difficult.
The air vent had to be opened to the maximum just to keep a fire burning.
When the fire-box door was opened, smoke would billow into the room.
It was plenty clear that the chimney needed to be cleaned.
So, why the dread and the postponement for a few weeks?
When you work in a highly active, slightly chaotic environment, it’s critical that you make a plan every day.
Why?
Work has to get done.
Otherwise …
Two opposite methods can be used to get work done.
You can respond 100% to circumstances and then react accordingly. Answering a ringing phone is an example of responding and reacting.
Or …
You can plan everything 100% and only take action after the plan has been thoroughly designed, tested, and approved. Constructing a building or new piece of machinery are two examples of planned activities.
In the real world, and especially in a world where customers are constantly buying, a balanced approach is necessary. Here’s why.
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.
In the workplace, problems and challenges occur all the time. It’s always something … it’s either this or that.
Where will we put this?
Why can’t we find the inventory that the computer says exists?
Why are we out of stock for this standard item?
Why do we too often end up reacting instead of following a plan?
These challenges and problems are the reason that you were hired. Your job is to solve problems.
Unfortunately, some people come to work and only create more problems.
Are you part of the problem? Or are you part of the solution?
Photo by Daniel Christensen
In nature, a hornet’s nest is neither a good thing nor a bad thing. It’s simply the home of a queen and up to 700 workers.
In the workplace, a hornet’s nest is not such a good thing. The phrase ‘stir up a hornet’s nest’ means to create a lot of trouble.
Sometimes a new leader will accidently stir up a hornet’s nest. She knows that something isn’t right. She doesn’t actually kick the hornet’s nest; she just pokes it with a stick. The result of a poking is the same as a full-style soccer kick. The hornets come out angry and mad – trouble has been stirred up!
Is that a bad thing?
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.
When you’re proud, you take responsibility for your actions. It’s a motivator for the results you seek. Being proud is a good thing.
Pride can be good when used to set standards for yourself.
Pride can also be good when it boosts your identity or self-image while you achieve your goals.
But … pride has the potential to be proud’s evil twin.
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.
