Top
Find speakers by:
Search

or search:

DR. GARY SCHWANTZ

TOPICS ON LIVING LIFE

GET TO OR GOT TO – CHOOSING TO LOVE LIFE (OR NOT!)

We can’t inspire others unless we are inspired ourselves. Dr. Schwantz contends that this inspiration is found in loving life. He’ll share what allows him to view life as a privilege, a “Get To”.  For other members of the dark side, you will enjoy his ideas and find some a practical way to love life – for those on the lighter side you’ll enjoy his humor. In addition, how do we apply this idea of seeing life as a privilege to our work as leaders and managers? Practical, funny and touching.

BEING THE DIFFERENCE

One of the tenets of camping is to leave the campground better than you found it – not only clean up after yourself, but prepare the campground so that the wood is already there for the next camper. For our lives to have meaning and significance beyond today – we have the opportunity to make this world a better place than we found it. A key element for those who love life is they make a difference in the lives of others, more to the point, they (you) are a difference in the lives of others.

BUBBA ZEN – A WEST TEXAS BOY TALKS ABOUT LIVING IN THE MOMENT

How about a rhetorical question, “Is it easy to lose balance and a sense of what is important in life when you are tasked with running departments and organizations that are pulling you 1,000 different directions?” Easy answer: YES! Don’t let the title throw you. Like most of you, I am by nature ADHD, not a Zen bone in my body. I work at savoring life, at not missing it, at creating balance and taking time. In order to feed creative juices, we have to slow down, create balance, open up our spirits and our time.

BREATHE. JUST. BREATHE. AGAIN.

Here we are, more than two years of COVID “crisis”. Inflation, stock values down, gas prices up! We are weary, we thought everything would be back to normal by now – easy times with our families and friends. Eating out, enjoying sports and music. We are getting to do more of more of what we used to do, though not quite there yet.

Once it’s normal, we swear we will never take normal for granted again. Unfortunately, we will. It is our human nature. Whatever our normal becomes, we will take it for granted again – family, friends, eating out, games, concerts. We took life for granted soon after 9/11. We did after the crash of 2008. We do after health scares. It’s human nature to take things for granted. We will likely do it again.

But we don’t have to. Let’s discuss how to change our nature of taking good things for granted. In addition, how about we find time to celebrate? How about we do it without waiting for everything to be perfect. I want to laugh more and not think everything must be contemplated. As I sat down to work on the ideas for this presentation, I walked through my lovely wife’s study. There is a plaque, still wrapped in the plastic. I don’t know if it is a gift to her or a gift she is preparing for someone else, but I know it is a gift to me, today. It says this:

UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE, CELEBRATE EVERYTHING.

Let’s celebrate more, choose to enjoy life. Let’s discuss breathing in – the very definition of inspiration.

 

FAVORITE BUSINESS TOPICS

Note: I love doing workshops, with lots of discussion and interaction. This is especially relevant to business topics. If you want ownership of the ideas, allow interaction and discussion. These topics can all be done as keynotes, but they come alive as workshops.

TALENT MANAGEMENT

As Jim Collins notes in ‘Good to Great’ there is nothing you can do that is more important than making sure that the right people are in the right place for the full benefit of the employee and the company! This workshop focuses on three key elements: Hiring for attitude, training for skill – a focus on behavioral interviewing and other ideas in interviewing and recruiting Keeping good people – ideas for retention and motivation Dealing with A, B and C Players – with a focus on coaching up B Players and moving C Players either up or out Bottom line. You will come out with practical ideas you can implement right away for effective hiring, retention of great employees and limiting the damage of bad ones.

A CUP OF COFFEE – LESSONS ON SERVANT LEADERSHIP, TEAMWORK, CUSTOMER SERVICE AND DIGNITY

The book, How Starbucks Saved My Life, is the story of Michael Gill, who at age 58 lost his job with a powerful NYC ad agency. Eventually broke and unemployed, he takes a job as a barista at a Starbucks in NYC and finds his life.

Using excerpts from the book and other sources – we will see examples in action of servant leadership, teamwork, customer service. We will delve into some of the processes, the differences between busyness and productivity. Finally, we will discuss the dignity of work and how to share that with your staff.

MANAGING CUSTOMER SERVICE

What are the differences between national chains, airlines, communication companies? I mean, don’t you assume they offer similar customer training to their staff, similar orientations? Yet some do outstanding jobs and the other not so much. Why? You already know: those companies that do well treat their employees like their best customers. They respect them, encourage them and challenge them. Look, it’s nice to offer customer service training, but that training is only effective when you take the lead. We will use material from several sources on what managing for customer service looks like: Southwest Airlines, Starbucks, and Disney. We will also utilize material from two key books, Managing Knock Your Socks Off Service by Albrecht and Zemke and Hardwiring Excellence by Quint Studer.

You will come away with some creative, practical and unexpected ideas for your organization and your staff.

LEADERSHIP DURING CHANGE

It seems everyone is in a changing and challenging industry. It is during change when leadership (a step beyond management) really comes into play. This session will discuss several elements in preparing for and dealing with change, including dealing with the inherent stress. The focus will be practical, down-to-earth elements you can apply immediately in helping your staff and your organization deal with change.

  • The processes of change
  • Key elements in preparing for change
  • Managing change and stress
  • Celebrating successes
  • Managing Innovation (actually, getting out of the way so innovation can happen)

INNOVATION/CHANGE IS NOT AN EVENT – IT IS OUR LIVES

Let’s have a conversation about creating an environment where innovation can occur. It means selecting the right people, allowing a creative workplace, creating a situation where the best ideas don’t come down from the top but come from your staff and your line managers – the point at which innovation needs to occur. This is a not an exercise in theory, but a presentation of key elements in allowing and encouraging innovation.

  • Making better choices in the moment by asking better questions.
  • Crew resource management
  • Creating a creative workplace
  • Meeting with people on their own turf
  • Sometimes having no choice is the best choice
  • Hiring for attitude and training for skills
  • Training – reinforce it – reward it
  • Spending some time looking at your place as a customer

Look for good help from sources such as Good to Great, Hardwiring Excellence and The Paradox of Choice.

ALLOWING MOTIVATION AND EMPOWERMENT: GETTING OUT OF THE WAY!

Motivation and empowerment. These are inseparable ideas. Innovation and creativity comes from empowered employees. And empowerment only comes from motivated employees – employees who understand their role with your organization and the difference they can make.

This workshop is full of practical ideas on motivating and empowering your employees (okay, total frankness – you don’t motivate or empower your employees so much as you remove the barriers to that motivation, including yourself). I will lead a discussion on what motivates and what doesn’t – and your ideas on what works. Then we will tackle what empowered employees look like (it’s not the same as delegation) and specifics on how to allow that to happen. Information you can use right away.

COMMUNICATION, CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM AND CONFRONTATION

Typically the most difficult conversations you will have in your positions are those that either involve criticism or confrontation. What if we can give you just 2 or 3 ways to improve your approach: better communication skills, the script for constructive criticism, the foundation for effective confrontation, dealing with difficult personality types?

This is not an easy topic, and the practice of communicating well is hard. But I know you will come away with practical ways to deal with that conversation you’ve been dreading back at work.

OTHER BUSINESS IDEAS

In my 7 years with The MED Group, I authored more than 120 courses on almost any topic you can think of.  In my 25 years as a professor at Texas Tech University, I researched & taught still more unique “life-skill” topics.  As you review the list of my presentation topics below, know that I bring a depth of research & varied perspectives to the discussion of each one. My question to you is…  What do YOU need?

No one will work harder to research your organization & customize presentations to meet your needs!

  • Ethics in Business (& Life)
  • Lessons in Leadership from Lincoln
  • Management & Life Stages – Understanding Generations
  • Time Management – & Making Time for What’s Really Important
  • Business Etiquette
  • Proactive Customer Service
  • When We Make a Mistake – Customer Service and Recovery
  • Understanding and Managing Different Personality and Learning Styles
  • Workstation Setup and Warehouse Ergonomics
  • Professionalism
  • Business Writing
  • Integrity