One of the best things you can do to improve yourself is to learn how to connect with people. Connection is simply defined as I see you as a person. The phrase used today to describe what is going on in society is extraverted loneliness, which means we are walking around in a crowded world yet people have never reported feeling more lonely and isolated. Connection is the answer to this dilemma - an intentional act to convey a message to our clients that they are seen as a person.

There is not enough education given to simple connection, which is the reason why people go and eventually stay in relationships. It is also very important with teams and companies. In the absence of connection, fear usually rules. Fear is the great disabler, and it is more dangerous today because fear is so widespread. With the present volatility of the financial markets, constant change is all fields, and the constant alarm message by the media, this is especially true in the corporate world. If the leader or the advisor can make each client feel valued and seen as an individual, all indication is there is not fear but confidence and strength. The biggest mistake is to treat clients and employees like commodities. Connection is learning to treat people like people and not numbers. You will be amazed at how it will change your level of success.

This workshop will help participants utilize tactics to connect to others. It teaches self-talk to help connect, listening skills (feel, felt, found) and the use of thank you.

Leadership By Developing The Gifts of Your People and Shaping A Winning Culture
(This Leadership Program is available in a one hour keynote or a half-day or 90 minute workshop format. See our Workshops link for a complete description.)

Structure drives function in every company, family, organization and team. As the leadership expert W. Edwards Deming has said, "Almost all problems an organization faces are systemic." Therefore, it is crucial for the leader to shape the culture over and over in much the same way that an athlete shapes muscle.

In this seminar, the leader learns first how to address the emotions of the team and to excite the team with a vision and a personal connection. Then, by "keeping the main thing the main thing," the leader learns how to maintain everyone's focus on meaningful tasks. Finally, since there are keystone habits that act as fulcrums by which other good habits present themselves, the leader learns how to identify the keystone habits and to bring about a higher level of focus on them.

This entire process occurs because the leader creates a daily "go to" script, designing the words he or she speaks. Thus, the leader has developed organizational muscle and likewise created a winning culture.

The enemy of careers, marriages, schools and mental well being is boredom; today, many people are bored to death. The challenge becomes insurmountable when people start blaming their circumstances for this awful condition, but the cause is that they are not growing. In fact, through life people either just go or grow.

This talk expands on our CD series "To Do The Impossible, You Have To See The Invisible," emphasizing very specific steps for growth: setting goals, visualizing these goals happening, and then speaking them into existence.

Many people do not achieve what they really want because they surrender to the "desire of the moment" as opposed to aspirations of the heart. However, this seminar will help you develop tools so you do not become distracted from your goals.

This highly demanding, interactive seminar will have you assess your gifts and put them into action in a clear process that will set you on a path to a fulfilling, goal-accomplishing year.

This seminar consists of four major points and four action items. First, from a research study conducted with MBA students at Harvard over ten years, those who have goals make twice as much over time as those who do not. And those who have written goals will (1) make ten times as much money and (2) are ten times as effective as those who do not (if you go on Google and type in goals/Harvard the study comes up). One either lives in circumstance or in vision. The first action step is to get a notebook and write goals daily.

Secondly, this seminar has the objective of clearing mental clutter. A person is effective when realizing "there are some things beyond my control and there are some things that are not." When the vision/goals are clear, one is pulled to them, but what makes the vision fuzzy is mental clutter, or thoughts in our head about things we can do nothing about. This seminar has the objective to identify those thoughts that rob performance and joy on the job. The second action step is to develop a focus phrase that clears the mind and then to write it on a card supplied at the seminar that the participant can keep in a wallet or purse.

Third, the process of developing a "game plan" is discussed and ways in which the participant can adhere to one that is effective. A key to performance is to get to our day and start our process as early as possible and without emotion. Sport analogies are used here in the seminar to show how athletes approached their task without emotion but with intent of execution. Studies show that the productive advisor makes his or her first call before 9 a.m. to a possible client, where the mediocre advisor makes that same first call after 11 a.m. In other words, productive people start their process as soon as possible daily. The third action step is to develop a personal script to use when starting the day to visualize the process and to focus before starting each day.

Last, the concept of "claiming" the vision is important in this seminar. High-level performers know the effectiveness of asking and asking and asking. The mediocre performers assume that those around them read their mind and will give them what they want because they have presented something to them and that others can read their mind. People like to be asked and research shows that people usually will not respond until asked -- to do whatever. The final action step is to leave the seminar and focus on asking for what one wants, or claiming it.

Nerves of Steel
This program addresses life-changing concepts by explaining the step-by-step process necessary to guide you. Dr. Elko teaches you how to be mentally tough when times call for it, and how to stay focused on the things that are truly important.

Although there has been much energy given to stress and how to handle it, the challenges of the stressful environment remain. Today's workplace, be it an athletic field, a business office, or our home, is more stressful than ever and people report being less able to handle their environment now than any time in history. In his approach, Dr. Elko discusses the strategy necessary to develop Nerves of Steel. He points out the importance of intrinsic motivation and how to keep those motivators in front of you at all times. Dr. Elko discusses how to focus using specific self-talk and how to identify your internal Voice of Judgment (V.O.J.) and how to internally respond to it. Finally, to retain the information taught in this program, Dr. Elko explains how to give away the very thing you need...your "68".

There is very little evidence that I.Q. alone is responsible for the success that an individual has in life. But one's ability to focus through adversity, be creative and maintain motivation, all factors that are referred to as having "Nerves of Steel" has been known to have a significant influence on one's success and satisfaction.

Vision for Victory
It is easy to sit and constantly analyze the problem along with the mass media. The winners however look for a solution. It is the difference between being an over-developed survivor or a developed achiever. This discussion presents a five-step system of first creating a vision of what you want to accomplish. Next we discuss techniques on how to make the vision clear and keep that vision in front of them daily. Next the participant is taught to remove the thoughts in their head that are keeping them from achieving their vision, which is called mental clutter. The third step is to develop and stay on a concrete process and techniques are shown so the participant does not vary. And finally, we discuss how to recognize and seize opportunities that enable the vision to be realized which we call "Claiming it".

Seasons - Learning How to Deal with Change
These are not tough times they are changing times, this is a very important distinction because as one labels they tend to adopt a set of behaviors that follow their label. However, this truth does not necessarily make life easier because the fact of the matter is few really know how to change. Last week a woman who was in tears was describing how her mother was telling her how she has emphysema and cancer while she was smoking a cigarette. I do not think there is such a thing as will power, but there is a specific set of skills that one uses to change. This talk outlines how the participant identifies the changes in their world and develops mental strategies to do the changes needed to become effective again, they (1) develop a new vision, (2) clear thoughts away that are not the new vision and (3) adhere to a system that gets them to the vision including asking for business they are entitled to. This talk describes how we need a season of change in our life to address the current challenges.

The Three R's (Retreat, Rethink, Respond)
One of the biggest challenges of interacting with clients is the fact that we (Financial Advisors, Sales Reps, etc) are frequently in a logical mode while the client is in an emotional mode. The interaction is frustrating and not productive. In this program, Dr. Elko presents a three-step system to teach participants to move the client to a logical mode by first retreating out of the interaction and becoming aware of their own thoughts. Then the participant is taught to rethink so that they let go of thoughts like needing to be right or wishing the client was not in the emotional state. Finally, listening skills are discussed that are key to moving the client out of the emotional state and then responding with possibilities to the client.

Quit Wishing For Victory and Decide On It
In this seminar, we discuss how the words that come out of our mouth have a direct relationship to our health and our wealth.

We can go to the next level by changing what we speak – moreover, being intentional and having a "Go to Script" ready to start each day out having the words that will roll off our tongue all day planned. The phrases: keep the main thing the main thing, trust, nothing to gain nothing to fight for and fight weary are all suggested as words we can say "out loud:" all day long to improve our effectiveness.

Believe
Many people fail in areas of their lives because they understand something objectively but not subconsciously. This disconnect occurs because of The Human Limbic System, which controls all beliefs that drive our reactions that powers our behaviors. And, really, what else is there except for our beliefs, which power our behavior? Some say that attitude is everything, but not many know that attitude is not a gene but rather a muscle needing exercise. And like any muscle, if it is not subjected to a workout every 48 to 70 hours, that muscle will atrophy, will shrink, thus becoming smaller and weaker.

At the University of Alabama in the weight room for the football team, with whom Dr. Elko works, hangs a sign over the doorway: "Overtraining will not undo poor nutrition." Likewise, a person's mastery of technology or of anything in life cannot "undo" a poor attitude. Strengthening that "attitude" muscle (which stems from one's beliefs) comes only with constant exercise.

In his seminar, Dr. Elko discusses our beliefs and how we make them. He teaches participants how to develop the tools they need to exercise that attitude muscle, how to manage their belief system, how to strengthen and feed that attitude muscle in order to build it into the fabric of their being, so that development and growth take place subconsciously and continuously.