17 minute read
Cultivate confidence to become a more effective leader
I have a drink coaster in my office that I look at every day that features a quote from author Anais Nin: “Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.”
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One of America’s top coaches and influencers Brendon Burchard has researched in his book “High Performance Habits” that “underlying all of the six high-performance habits is confidence. Increase that, and all the other scores increase.”
Confidence is a big deal in leadership. No one wants to follow a non-confident leader. And if you want executive presence, confidence is from which it springs.
What is confidence? A belief in your own abilities, a belief or self-assurance in your ability to succeed.
To get more confidence, let’s review actions you can take each week.
Believe in yourself
This is not just a “woo-woo” phrase. You really do become on the outside what you believe on the inside. You are the sum total of your most dominant thoughts. Those thoughts – your self-talk – are driving deep grooves in your brain – positively or negatively – so it’s crucial to clean them up and point them in a more confident direction.
What’s your power to draw from? A strong core. Just like you need to do planks and crunches to improve your physical core strength, you need to take some time to re-acquaint yourself with yourself, most likely in a personal retreat, and strengthen your mental/emotional core.
Re-discover:
• Your noble purpose or personal mission statement: why you do what you do.
• Your core values: how you do what you do.
• Your strengths: define them through the Clifton Strengths Finder or Working Genius assessments.
• Your experience thus far: all the wins you can celebrate in your leadership
• Your resourcefulness to figure things out as this leads to an optimistic mindset.
• Your pure motive in this situation.
“Once we believe in ourselves, we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight, or any experience that reveals the human spirit,” said e.e. Cummings, an American poet
Yeah, it takes work to train your brain. Over time, it will become more your default.
Negativity is the wet blanket that snuffs out courage.
And, if you don’t do it for yourself, do it for others who are watching you. It’s harder to believe in others when you choose to not believe in yourself. Your self-talks affects those you love and those you work with.
Expand your network
First, believe in yourself. Then, expand your network.
Develop and strengthen more of your relationships. A good rule of thumb is to always work with the construction gang and not the wrecking crew. Demo day is fun on those home improvement shows and often it can save you money on your contractor. But in life and business, the wrecking crew are the gossips, the Eeyores, the nay-sayers, the can’t-do-it people.
You don’t have time for that and thus you must put boundaries around those folks in your life.
Instead, you can choose to hang with those:
• Doing what people said couldn’t be done – the initiators of the world.
• Who are always growing, personally and professionally.
• Trying something new and taking on new challenges.
• Stepping up when others step back –showing courage.
The benefit to you: They are courageous when you are not, or they speak courage (“en-courage”) to you when you need it most.
Scottish author George MacDonald said: “Nothing makes one feel so strong as a call for help.” Do you read that and go, “Wait, what?”
Almost every client I have has said that if they ask for help, they might be viewed as weak or incompetent, or someone to be passed up next time.
It’s counterintuitive, though. How many times have you grown in your career or life when someone you reached out to for mentoring got you to the next level by their advice or the doors they opened for you?
Here’s the magic: I have found it amazing that as soon as you start telling people what you want to do, things start emerging in your path to make it happen.
According to author of “Act Like a Leader, Think Like a Leader,” Herminia Ibarra said we need three kinds of networks:
• Operational (internal: at work) – to manage today’s work; to get things done efficiently.
• Personal (external: away from work) – to grow toward your life vision, to enjoy life and develop yourself.
• Strategic (both internal and external: with medium- to long-term focus) – to lead well; to understand your context; to generate ideas and support for them.
Glean as much as you can from everyone around you. The way you do that is to not be passive, but intentional. Ask targeted questions of mentors and journal your takeaways.
First, believe in yourself. Then expand your network.
Take a baby step, open your wings and go all-in.
Beyond the comfort zone
We must break down big goals and dreams into attainable stretches. You stretch – not enough to pull a muscle – but outside your comfort zone. It’s getting those confidence muscles ready to push beyond.
This could look like:
• Speak up for once at a meeting where you’ve previously been silent or intimidated.
• Volunteer to take a role that you don’t fully feel you are equipped to do (but you know you’ll be a quick learner).
• Name the side-business you’d like to start and brainstorm the elements in a business plan.
• Hire a coach or personal trainer or therapist to stretch your mind to the possibilities.
Here’s what I do know, best said by Indian revolutionary Mahatma Gandhi: “You may never know what results come from your action. But if you do nothing, there will be no result.”
Inaction is a decision, usually not one we’re proud of later. Yeah, that’s when we look back a year or five and see we haven’t grown. We haven’t accomplished anything on our bucket list. We didn’t take action. However, action blasts away fear.
Courage or comfort?
Don’t always play it safe. Playing it safe will never be fulfilling. There are two kinds of people in the world: those who want to make things happen and those who don’t want to make mistakes. On a continuum, where are you?
You must do the things that scare you to build confidence. You will cultivate confidence through risk, failure and changing how you think. The choice is courage or comfort–you can’t have both.
So, we are building courage momentum. A 90-year-old looked back on his life, and when asked his best advice for living well, he said, “When in doubt, just take the next step.” It’s good advice.
A quick reality pause: Expect resistance – and push through it. As soon as you set a courageous goal, resistance comes calling. We tend to give up too easily.
Instead, absorb the hit and keep going–like the X-Man Wolverine who heals almost as fast as he’s getting pummeled.
Fear is part of that resistance. Being fearless is less about operating with no fear and more about seeing the fear – confronting the fear – and stepping forth in a grand effort to overcome.
“Hi, fear, I see you. I know you’re along for the ride, but you can’t have the steering wheel. Onward!”
Baby step, open your wings, and then,
CASEY, From page A36
Best example: Cortes in 1519 said (and then did), “Burn the boats,” leaving his men no chicken-exit to return home.
“All-in” means not hedging, not leaving yourself an easy out and not thinking, “It’s OK to cancel.”
Titus Livius, Roman historian, said: “In difficult situations, when hope seems feeble, the boldest plans are safest.” at the Kennewick Ranch and Home.
Sounds counterintuitive. But which organizations thrived throughout the pandemic. Who reinvented with new vigor?
The only way you can rise to meet challenges effectively is to expect to.
Finally, your courage and confidence have benefits that ripple out to others. Make it easier for others around you to take courage.
By nudging those around you to pilot something, or run with their plan, and by creating a climate of grace for errors, you embolden others to take their baby-step risks. Now you are in their network, and they are drawing off your courage.
Whatever you are thinking of creating or accomplishing, be a part of the solution. Take courage, expand your leadership and grow forward.
Paul D. Casey lives in the Tri-Cities and is the owner of Growing Forward Services, which aims to equip and coach leaders and teams to spark breakthrough success. Casey has authored five books and hosts Leader-Launcher.com for emerging leaders each month. Online at growingforwardservices.net.
SIT MEANS SIT, From page A34 go all-in.
Eventually, he moved to a building on Vista Way before moving to the current location.
Sprague doesn’t plan any more expansions anytime soon. But he does have one employee who lives in College Place who holds a couple of training classes a week in Walla Walla.
Sprague said that he could easily use one or two, possibly three, new employees.
Along the way, Wright has been with him. They met when Sprague was coldcalling veterinarian offices in the area, and she was working at one.
She joined his team in 2017 and has been vital in every aspect of the opera- tion, he said. She steps in wherever needed, as a trainer or manager.
“We have eight employees, plus Steve,” Wright said. “Pre-Covid, we had five.”
“I couldn’t do what I do without this staff,” Sprague said.
Pandemic increases demand
While Covid negatively affected many businesses, it had the opposite effect on dog training.
“Covid has been a tragic historical event, but it actually increased the need for good dog trainers,” Sprague said. “A lot of people were working from home, and so were able to adopt dogs or had more time to spend with their dogs and found they could use some help.”
That’s where Sprague and his staff come in.
“I love changing lives. I feel that’s what we’re doing. Dogs are family,” he said. “People come to us at their wit’s end. They’re struggling, stressed, frustrated, some even thinking about possibly rehoming their dogs. When we see them, we can help change things. That’s really the biggest thing.
“The dog is happier. The family is happier.”
So is Sprague, with his lifelong love of canines.
“The longer I train them, the more I learn how amazing dogs are and how much more they have to teach. It’s a never-ending process,” he said.
Search Sit Means Sit Tri-Cities: 23 W. First Ave., Suite B, Kennewick. Contact: 509-987-1990; sitmeanssit.com; Tricitiessms@gmail.com.
uNEW HIRES
• Sara Schilling joined the Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business as a reporter. The Kennewick native has 15 years of experience as a journalist. The Tri-City Herald hired her in 2004 after she completed a successful internship. She worked there for more than six years before leaving to work for more than two years at the Tacoma News Tribune. She returned to Kennewick and the Herald, where she worked for another six years. She comes to the Journal after spending the past four years working in the communications department at the Kennewick School District. Schilling is an award-winning journalist, earning a national Society of Professional Journalists award for feature writing, among several others. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Seattle Pacific University.
• Anneke
Rachinski joined Washington State University TriCities as senior development director on Feb. 13. In this role she will develop, implement and administer the Tri-Cities campus development efforts to support annual fundraising goals. Rachinski comes to WSU Tri-Cities with a background in higher education fundraising. Most recently she led the development and growth of a major gifts and planned giving program. She also has led alumni relations and cultivation efforts. Prior to her fundraising roles, Rachinski worked for WSU Tri-Cities as a project coordinator for the Hanford History Project and a program assistant in the development department. She has a master of science in management and leadership from Western Governor’s University and a bachelor’s degree in anthropology from Western Washington University. She is also a graduate of Leadership Tri-Cities, Class XVV and received the Young Professionals Award from the Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business in 2022.
• The Tri-City Regional Chamber of Commerce hired Miles Thomas as the organization’s government and regional affairs director. In this position, Thomas will lead the Regional Chamber’s advocacy efforts, the myTRI 2030 Regional Vision Project and more. He brings more than a decade of experience in community and economic development to his new position. Within the Tri-Cities, Thomas has extensive policy advocacy and project planning experience through economic development roles in city and port governance. Thomas serves on the board of directors for the Tri-Cities Diversity and Inclusion Council and Sagebrush Montessori School, in addition to committee roles for the International Economic Development Council (IEDC) and Washington State Small Business Development Center Advisory Board. He is an alumnus of the University of Illinois and holds a master’s degree in urban and regional planning.
• Carya Bair joined the Benton-Franklin Workforce Development Council on Feb. 1 as the business engagement manager. She has been a strong contributor to the local public workforce development system for 10 years. Bair has held many roles at WorkSource Columbia Basin in business services and case management, including her most recent role as an interim employment connections supervisor. In her new role, she will be conducting outreach and work to expand our community organization and business partnerships.
• Wine industry veteran Edward Holmes joined J. Bookwalter as the national sales director for the 60,000-case winery located in Richland. Holmes has managed wine sales for more than 25 years in the Pacific Northwest. He started his career with Brown-Forman, spending eight years as Northwest regional wine sales manager and three years on the company’s NAOP team. He then spent 10 years with Oregon winery King Estate as vice president of sales for the western United States. Over the past three years, Holmes has worked for DAOU Family Vineyards to build a presence in the Pacific Northwest for the California-based winery.
• Jay King has been hired as Prosser’s new police chief. The Montgomery, Alabama, native earned his bachelor’s and master’s of science in justice and public safety from Auburn University Montgomery and is currently a candidate for a master of science in public administration. His tenure in law enforcement began when he enlisted in the Alabama Army National Guard in December 1990. He was assigned to the 217th Military Police Company, where he reached the rank of specialist. He earned several medals and ribbons during his service until he received an honorable discharge in December 1997. He has more than 26 years of law enforcement experience in Montgomery, beginning in July 1994, and two years in Unalaska, Alaska. King replaces former chief David Giles who resigned in February.
• Astria Health hired Elizabeth “Eli” Sreniawski to its Pediatric Therapy Clinic at 1017 Tacoma Ave. in Sunnyside. The occupational therapist specializes in pediatrics with an emphasis on working with children on the autism spectrum, with medical complexities, with sensory processing problems and with profound behavioral needs. She’s practiced in hospital- and school-based settings, treating patients of all ages. Sreniawski is part of the new Astria Health Pediatric Therapy program offering occupational and speech therapy services.
• Astria Health hired family nurse practitioner Severiano Manuel to its Astria Health Center in Grandview. He joined Astria Health after working in the KirklandSeattle area for several years and he has over 10 years of nursing experience. He received his post-master’s certificate in family nurse practitioner and his master of science in nursing degree from Seattle University. His master’s program focused on community/public health, leadership and program development. He also received his bachelor of science in criminal justice with a forensic science specialization and a minor in chemistry from Seattle University.
• Community First Bank’s home loans team is growing with the addition of six mortgage consultants and four mortgage processors. The team totals 11 mortgage consultants and seven mortgage processors. The new additions to the team are Tom Coyne, Jowed Hadeed, Luis Campos, Philip Murr, Heather Lee, and Monique Rojo.
• Lourdes
Health hired Pamela Morris as an advanced registered nurse practitioner at Lourdes Occupational Health. She sees patients for pre-placement and post-offer physicals, diagnosis and treatment of work-related injuries, Department of Transportation physicals, respiratory protection programs, hearing conservation programs, medical surveillance, fitness for duty and more. She comes to Lourdes from Prosser Memorial Health Family Medicine where she was the medical director and treated occupational health patients. She previously practiced with Total Care Clinics and 8 AM to 8 PM Family Medicine in Kennewick and cared for patients in the surgical unit and served on the trauma and code teams at Kadlec Regional Medical Center in Richland. She also worked as an associate professor for 15 years in the Department of Nursing at Columbia Basin College in Pasco.
• Prosser
Thrive Coalition hired a new executive director, Brittany Aguilar
Her first day is March 20, replacing previous director Haley Greene, who resigned in June 2022. Aguilar is originally from Mount Vernon, Washington. She received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in family studies at Central Washington University. While in school she facilitated a parenting group, taught an intro to family studies class, served as president of the Family Studies Club and completed two research projects. She also completed a practicum with Washington State Department of Children, Youth & Families. She has spent the majority of her career as a social worker for the state and in youth drug and alcohol use prevention. Thrive is comprised of community volunteers representing 12 different sectors of the community working together to reduce substance use.
• STCU has hired Home Loan Officer Teresa Ryan to serve the credit union’s Pasco, Queensgate, and Southridge branches, along with its Ritzville location. She was a social worker for 25 years before entering real estate. She holds degrees from Washington State University and Walla Walla University.
uNEW HIRES
• Adrian Ochoa is the new athletic director at Richland High School. He is currently a business and marketing teacher and DECA advisor at Richland High. He replaces athletic director Mike Edwards, who will be retiring at the end of the 2022-23 school year. Ochoa holds a bachelor of applied business management degree from Columbia Basin College and a master’s in education leadership with a principal Certificate from Eastern Washington University. He also earned his career and technical education teaching certificate from Eastern Washington University.
• Distinctive Properties Inc. of Kennewick hired two new real estate brokers: Melissa Reddout and Tiffany Robbins • Lourdes Health and Trios Health hired Dr. Amardeep Mann to provide a range of cardiovascular care to patients throughout the Tri-Cities and surrounding region. He will divide his time seeing patients at the Lourdes Medical Center in Pasco and at the Trios Care Center at Southridge in Kennewick. He is board-certified in cardiovascular medicine, internal medicine and International Board of Heath Rhythm Examiners (IBHRE). Mann specializes in preventative and general diagnostic cardiology, nuclear tests, tilt table test, stress echocardiography, cardiac catheterizations, echocardiograms, loop recorder, pacemakers and implantable cardioverterdefibrillators. He received his doctor of medicine degree from GURU Gobind Singh Medical School in India, completed his residency at the University of Southern California, LAC and USC Internal Medicine, and his fellowship in cardiology at The University of Southern California, LAC and USC Cardiovascular Diseases.
• Ste. Michelle Wine Estates, the largest winery in the Pacific Northwest and among the largest premium wineries in the U.S., hired Shawn Conway as chief executive officer. He is a seasoned executive with 30 years of experience in leadership roles across several consumer product categories. Most recently he served as the CEO of Peet’s Coffee, and prior to that he spent nearly a decade at
SKYY Spirits. Conway has held multiple positions in general management, operations, supply chain, and finance in highgrowth, premium-branded specialty food and beverage, and consumer packaged goods companies. He holds a bachelor of science in commerce with a major in finance from Santa Clara University.
uPROMOTIONS
• The Richland Police Department has promoted David Neher to deputy police chief, a newly created position that is part of the overall organizational restructuring of the department. Neher came to the department as a police officer in June 2021. He was promoted to lieutenant in February 2022. He continued to climb the ranks to police commander in April 2022. Prior to Richland, he worked for eight years at the Citrus Heights Police Department in Citrus Heights, California, most recently as a detective sergeant in the special investigations unit. In addition, he served as an acting lieutenant, a patrol sergeant, on the special weapons and tactics (SWAT) team, and as the unmanned aerial systems team leader, among other roles.
uAWARDS & HONORS
• Columbia Basin College named Martin Valadez as the winner of the 2023 Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK) Spirit Award. The award is given annually to those who embody the spirit and vision of King’s work. Valadez is being recognized for his leadership and efforts to address the inequities and injustices affecting disadvantaged groups in the community, especially minority, low income, migrant and Spanish-speaking populations. Valadez was recognized for his leadership efforts to create a more just society. Professionally, his career focused primarily on higher education and health care, two areas critical to addressing the needs of underserved populations. His expertise in these areas extended to the community through work on behalf of countless community organizations, committees and foundations. Valadez is regional director at Heritage University and he serves as a member of the Washington State Board of Community and Technical Colleges, interim executive director of the Tri-Cities Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, vice chair of the Washington State ACLU, president and founder of the Pasco Bilingual Toastmasters Club, member of Gesa Credit Union’s board of directors and founder of the Latino Professionals Leadership Development group.
• The Port of Kennewick honored James Cox as a champion in the revitalization of Kennewick’s historic waterfront and recognized him with their 2022 Friend of the Port award. He has supported the port’s efforts to transform the east Columbia Drive neighborhood into the Columbia Gardens Wine & Artisan Village. Cox notifies port staff when he sees abandoned cars, vagrants, graffiti or offending activity and he patronizes area businesses. Port staff reported that when a food truck’s equipment was inadvertently left unattended, Cox secured that equipment overnight for the vendor. And several times he secured fencing for the contractor during construction of the tasting room building. He often calls port staff about broken sprinklers and lights. Port officials say he has taken it upon himself to serve as volunteer “watchman” for the neighborhood. Cox is an Army veteran and former long-haul truck driver.
• Central Washington University was named a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program
Top Producing Institution for the 2022-23 academic year. With three CWU faculty members selected to the prestigious program last year and three others chosen between 2019-21, CWU ranks among the nation’s most decorated institutions for the federal government’s flagship international educational exchange program.
• Nan Duncan, a special education paraeducator at Richland High School, has been nominated for the state Classified School Employee of the Year by the Richland School District. The program recognizes classified employees from each of Washington’s educational service districts every year. Staff members are chosen for their exceptional work; the respect and admiration they have received from their community; their commitment to professional growth and deepening connections between schools and communities; their collaborative approach to creating positive and successful school cultures; and their dedication to student success. Duncan grew up in Richland schools and her own children graduated from Richland High School. She joined the district in the 1988-89 school year as a paraeducator at Badger Mountain Elementary and also worked at Carmichael Middle School. She has spent the past several years working in Richland High’s structured program, which serves students who are autistic.
• Austin Regimbal, the marketing and communications director at the Tri-City Regional Chamber of Commerce, was among the 19 chamber executives to graduate on Feb.15 from Academy, a professional development program presented by the Western Association of Chamber Executives (W.A.C.E.). Academy is an interactive three-year training program on chamber management essentials designed for chamber executives and staff.
uDONATIONS
• UScellular donated $30,000 to the Boys and Girls Clubs of Benton and Franklin Counties through its Community Connections program.
• Columbia Industries, a missionbased organization committed to supporting and empowering individuals with disabilities and other challenges, received a $5,000 donation from First Interstate Bank. The CI Community Center used the grant to buy musical instruments to use with clients during weekly music lessons, led by Ted Brown Music of Richland.