Video: Customers Share Their Advantage, pt. 3

Video: Customers Share Their Advantage, pt. 2

Video: Customers Share Their Advantage, pt. 1

Jay Kiew, DTM

We want to give special recognition to one of our company reps Jay Kiew from the University of British Columbia. Jay has been a member in Toastmasters since his first year at UBC and has just completed his 5th full year. He recently achieved the respected honor of not only receiving the incredibly prestigious DTM Award, but also became the youngest Distinguished Toastmaster in the world at the age of 22.

From the Toastmasters International Wikipedia page:

Distinguished Toastmaster

Toastmasters awards its highest honor, Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM), to members who have achieved both the Advanced Communication Gold and Advanced Leader Silver awards. To achieve the DTM typically takes five to eight years of dedicated service and leadership in at the local club, area, and division levels. DTM candidates must also perform more than 40 public presentations both inside the club and out in the community (as part of earning the prerequisite Competent Communicator and Advanced Communicator awards). Fewer than 12,000 of Toastmaster's 4 million past and present members have achieved the elite DTM status. Some dedicated Toastmasters members have achieved multiple DTM designations. Members who have earned their DTM are usually honored and presented with a medal at a district conference following their achievement.

The Distinguished Toastmaster title is not necessarily the end of the journey for most Toastmasters. Many Toastmasters will re-enter the program and repeat it at least once more. Every iteration through the program affords the individual additional experience in either the chosen direction or a totally new direction at their discretion.

The record for the youngest Distinguished Toastmaster in the world is set by Jay Kiew at the age of 22 in September 2012.

Jay's positions in Toastmasters have included VP of Membership, then President, and then moving ahead to Area Governor. His experience has given him the opportunity to deliver over 180 speeches, presentations, and workshops. 

In the spring of 2012, Jay received his degree in Political Science from UBC and is originally from Singapore, Singapore. His work with Southwestern Advantage began in the spring of 2009 and continued until the fall of 2012 as he recently began work as a marketing consultant in Vancouver. Thank you Jay for the impact you have made on hundreds of families, your fellow students, and friends during your time with Southwestern, and for the inspiring things you're continuing to accomplish in your life!

Follow Jay online at jaykiew.com and on Twitter at @jaykiew.

Avoiding Emotional Black Holes

When I was studying astronomy in college, I found myself very intrigued (and still do) by the subject of black holes -- massive stars that have experienced a supernova an imploded upon themselves. What remains is a gravitational force so powerful that not even light is able to escape it.

I'm sure that at some point you've been around a griping, whiny person who has devolved into an emotional black hole. Their negativity is so overt that they not only affect themselves but seem to sap your energy and attitude as well. Some people brighten rooms upon entering while this type of person brightens the room by leaving it. 

In a blog I read by Geoffrey James, he offers some suggestions on how to improve your own attitude and increase your ability to influence others in a positive and helpful way. Here are some of his suggestions:

• Stop using negative phrases such as "It's impossible," or "This won't work," because they program your mind for more negative thinking and negative results. Instead, say phrases such as "That might be challenging," or "We should think of some alternatives," that leave the possibility of eventual success open and available. 
• Whenever somebody asks, "How are you?", don't come out with something depressing or uninteresting like, "Hangin' in there" or "Same old, same old." Instead respond with something more enthusiastic and exciting such as "Terrific!" or "Fantastic!" or "I've never felt better!" Then make that your reality too.
• Stop complaining about things you have no control over such as the economy, your company management or leadership, customers, etc. Focus instead on what you can change, influence, or accomplish. 
• Stop griping about your personal problems and illnesses. What good can it do other than to depress everyone else? Remember: This too shall pass. Do what you can to deal with your problems and then use your remaining energy to keep yourself on track and in high sprits. 
• Substitute neutral words for emotionally loaded ones. For example, rather than saying, "I'm enraged!" say, "This is making me feel a bit annoyed..." or (even better) "I've got a real challenge here." Neutral words keep your mind from getting into emotional feedback loops that keep you feeling miserable. 

I like these reminders. I need to review them myself. Our words are powerful. They have consequences. What we choose to say, whether in casual conversation or in a professional setting, can make a significant difference. Be aware of what you say and how you say it. Listen to what comes out of your mouth and make a conscious decision to avoid becoming an emotional black hole.

Lee McCroskey
@rleemcc
Director of Leadership, Southwestern Advantage

Don't Play The Blame Game

back when i was a kid, my mother was filming my brother and i (about 3 & 4 years old at the time) as we decorated our christmas tree with ornaments. looking back, there's a shot of my brother on a step-ladder, reaching up as high as a four year old could, to place an ornament near the top of the mid-sized tree. he loses his balance for a moment, dropping the glass ornament as he catches himself from falling. CRASH! the ornament hits the floor and shatters. 

this is all captured on video. however, as soon as the ornament breaks, my brother turns to the camera and screams, "haley did it!!"

the video pans to me in my footie holiday pajamas, minding my own business as i stood there watching -- not being very productive, but definitely not dropping ornaments on the floor. for my 4 year old brother, his diversion of blame was pretty clever, even cute. but to divert blame as a mature individual -- nope, not so cute anymore. a waste of energy is more like it. 

you, and you alone, are 100% responsible for your own life. 

same goes for me; same goes for everyone else. no one but ourselves should take the blame for the status of our grades, the quality of our relationships, the state of our health, our jobs ... everything!

every result and every output is your responsibility. is everything that happens completely under your control? yeah right. but how you respond to your circumstances sure is. it's not someone else's responsibility to make you happy, to get you an A in class, or to make sure the boss gets the report he requested from you in on time, or to even make you feel fulfilled in doing your life or responsibilities. it's also no one else's fault if you fail to do these things. there's no one coming to the rescue but you. 

once we accept personal responsibility for our own situations, and decide to hold ourselves accountable for every aspect of our lives -- we can much more effectively create our experiences or situations to be the way we want them to be. blaming bad PR, jerky people, or crummy facilities doesn't do yourself one bit of good. what's much more effective is using that energy to collect the pieces, and proactively work to create the results you desire. you know what you would like to accomplish. you have an idea or even a clear picture of what it takes to achieve it. accept that it's your responsibly to get there, and decide that you are going to make it happen, no matter what happens in between.

"if it's meant to be, it's up to me."

@haleyjoprice
Lexi from SkWids.com