Category: Leadership Speaker

A Safety Mindset is Not Optional

In my virtual and live safety speeches, I often remind audiences that safety protocols are sometimes viewed as an option when workers are tired, stressed or in a hurry. In order to remain steadfast during times of unexpected change or mental and physical overwhelm, training teams to remain in a safety mindset at all times is crucial.

In 2020, despite the “lockdown,” preliminary data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that about 3 workers in 100 suffered serious workplace injuries. This was unchanged from 2019. It was the first time in 15 years the statistics did not go down!

About 1 in every 100 workers had to take time off from work due to injuries, and about 7 in 100 workers were transferred or fired from jobs due to dangerous safety violations – from alcohol abuse to refusal to use safety harnesses.

Last year, about $60 billion in claims were paid out due to incidents such as lifting heavy objects that were too heavy, slips on wet floors, falling objects, bad ladders and truck crashes. Virtually every one of the safety violations could have been avoided. And in most workplace accidents, “safety” was treated as an option.

Mindset isn’t Optional

When I was involved in a traumatic car accident that transformed my life from an able-bodied athlete and martial artist into a quadriplegic, it was because I failed to have a safety mindset. As I lay in a hospital bed recovering from my injuries, I had no choice but to overcome my challenges by developing an entirely new philosophy of life focused on the concepts of Vision, Mindset, and Grit. As a motivational safety speaker, this philosophy is what I teach teams to help them understand how significantly a poor split-second decision can affect all aspects of their lives.

The “Vision” I refer to, is a statement of safety that must be embraced by everyone in the organization from the CEO to the apprentice. The vision is more than a printed statement slapped on the chain-link fence of a construction site but embraced and reinforced through proper training, encouragement and teammate accountability.

“Mindset” is much more than a temporary thought shared at a company meeting or safety video. A safety mindset is a statement of life and commitment. For surely, in 2020 there were workplace accidents that took lives.

I like to think of mindset as an attitude where everyone in the organization agrees to draw a line in the sand, where we all agree to no more accidents, no more injuries and where everyone looks out for everyone else to ensure they adhere to safety protocols.

When organization embraces a safety mindset, great things happen.

But how does an organization maintain vision and mindset? The bond that holds it all together is “Grit.” Grit is the day-to-day resolve to have a safe workplace. It is neither magic nor a secret code that is unavailable except to the “higher-ups.” Grit is everyone watching each other’s backs, pointing out dangerous conditions, fixing what is broken and resolving that each day must be better than the day before.

At the end of the day, Vision, Mindset and Grit is a safety proposition that ensures everyone goes home to their families safe and sound. Safety should never be optional.

To hire Scott Burrows, Motivational Safety Speaker for your next in-person or virtual event, contact him today through this website or his office at: (520) 548-1169

Resilience is Forged by Determination & Grit

Last year in a virtual speech on resilience, I was asked if a resilient manager is the descriptor of someone without conviction or an objective.

“Oh no,” I said, “it is quite the opposite.”

In fact, as a keynote speaker on resilience, I know that the most resilient managers are determined, highly focused and always have a strong sense of purpose. To illustrate my comment, I gave her an example of a basic household item we all take for granted: the rubber band. I might start by saying that the rubber band hasn’t been made of natural rubber in decades!

Born of Vision

When we think of resilience, our minds tend to wander to elastic objects that stretch, bend and return to their original shape. But an elastic object, be it a rubber band or stretch band is first formed by heating chemical compounds, then poured into hardened steel molds, cured by steam heat and eventually cut by hard steel blades to an exacting thickness.

To make an elastic rubber band requires design, engineering, a manufacturing process, quality control and constant refinement.

The purpose of this post isn’t to teach organizations the art of rubber band making, but to illustrate that even the most flexible of objects or resilient of practices is rooted in solid ground or strong tradition or singular mindset.

While the willow tree may bend in the breeze, its strong roots do not; while the lifelong study of Tai Chi is seen as a process of flexibility and flowing movements, its practitioners are extremely aware of their core and connection to the earth.

Resilient Changes

In these times of constant change and the resilience required to meet those changes, the most successful organizations are those that cultivate three key practices: Vision, Mindset and Grit. Whether your organization is devoted to legal, accounting, healthcare or rubber band manufacturing, resilience must be deeply rooted in purpose.

Having a resilient vision means that although pandemic and recovery will cause our organizations undergo constant change this year, we must develop a plan that will connect us to “the earth” of our mission. This plan means we must be determined to be imaginative, creative, deliberate and powerful.

Having a resilient mindset requires not just our teams, but every individual on our team to work at being at their best. To be the best, we must be determined to develop a resilient mindset by honing our skills and strengths to handle with any problem or task that comes our way. The strong roots of the willow tree did not develop that way because of light breezes and plentiful water, but to cope with the changing terrain.

Developing resilient grit is to know that each day, every hour in that day we will face unexpected challenges that must be overcome. Times may change, workplace stressors and opportunities change, but grit is constant.

Resilience is forged of hard determination; to stand against the change and the challenges and ultimately to win, whether your company is involved in insurance, biotech or rubber bands. Resilience in tough times creates winners; narrow thinking or losing intent leads to failure and defeat.

To hire Scott Burrows, Motivational Resilience Speaker for your next in-person or virtual event, contact him today through this website or his office at: (520) 548-1169

Now, More Than Ever, Associations Must Engage Members

In my role as an association keynote speaker, I know that now, more than ever, associations must re-engage their members. Association membership has been in trouble for quite some time, and membership loss and membership engagement with those organizations have worsened during the pandemic.

In February 1, 2018, Associations Now published the results of a Member Loyalty Study that listed several reasons why members did not renew their memberships to associations. Of the top reasons, three of them deserve note here:

34% of members who dropped out said it was too costly
26% of members who dropped out said the association was providing little value
9% of members who dropped out said the organization had declined in quality

Unfortunately, with the pandemic, these same problems increased. Michael Hickey, also writing for Associations Now (September 25, 2020) noted:

“Losing members is an unfortunate reality for every association. This is especially true in 2020, when new outside pressures—particularly the financial turmoil caused by the COVID-19 pandemic—might have more people ready to cut membership fees out of their expenses, on top other reasons [reported above] that people let memberships lapse.”

Business as Usual or a New Mindset?

There is no doubt that 2020 was a year of “financial turmoil,” but as a keynote speaker for associations I know that to attribute membership declines and a lack of engagement to lockdowns does not tell the whole story.

Unfortunately, in some associations the decline has gone on for years. Ironically, associations are needed now, more than ever. The glue that holds professionals together is the professional association.

Jan Hill, writing for Onelegal.com, a website directed at law associations, listed 10 advantages to belonging to an association. Among those advantages were: getting your name “out there,” job prospects, mentoring programs, networking and resources. If we couple those advantages with the survey above, it is apparent that there is a vision and mindset problem because the advantages an association offers are exactly the things members need.

Associations should be “blasting off” with new members at this time – and they’re not. COVID should be serving as a catalyst for expanding association membership and not a damper.

What is needed is a new association mindset. Whether the association addresses financial services, accounting, agriculture, manufacturing or dentistry, members need the combined expertise and common bonds shared with like-minded people.

Does your association have the mindset and the vision to engage existing members and to attract new members? If, as the survey showed, more than a third of your members may be dropping out because they think it’s too costly, or if more than a quarter of your members have left because they see little value, what is your association’s vision for new programs or services or engagement messaging? Very seriously, if members are leaving because of the declining quality of your association’s professional benefits, what is the collective mindset for improving that quality?

As we are being led out of the pandemic, the association must be there to lead the way and to put a public face to your industry. A healthy industry must have healthy associations. It will take mindset, vision and grit.

Book Scott Burrows, association keynote speaker by contacting him through this website or his office at: (520) 548-1169

Are You Determined to Know the Truth About Insurance Sales?

My career as an insurance and financial services keynote speaker wasn’t something, I fell into one fine day. I learned the insurance and financial services industry from the bottom up. Despite personal and physical hardship and sacrifice, I made it into the Million Dollar Round Table in five years.

Keeping Current

It’s important to me that I keep current with the insurance and financial services industry from a motivational speaker point of view and also for my knowledge base. As I am a virtual as well as in-person speaker, I was interested in a link sent to me by an old associated that was entitled The Truth About Being an Insurance Agent. As it was published recently, I wanted to understand the current thinking.

As my passion is motivating insurance and financial services industry sales people to achieve their best, I was interested in the section in the article “Why do insurance agents fail?”

The authors listed several reasons including: unrealistic expectations due to a lack of renewals; a lack of sales mainly due to a lack of industry knowledge and sales savvy; inadequate lead generation; running a business can be overwhelming and focusing on commissions instead of the needs of the customer. While it is impossible to find fault with the points, they seem to fall short of the actual reasons for the failures.

Mindset, Determination and Grit

My philosophy of insurance and financial services sales is based on three underlying principles: mindset, determination and grit.

As to the issue of unrealistic expectations leading to a lack of sales, if this were the case, no one would go into the profession at first, nor would anyone focus on generating leads. Or, for that matter, who would create an insurance and financial services business or want to make a difference in the lives of their clients?

If a new agent has a realistic mindset about what it takes to create a business, if they are determined to go after business and to generate leads, if they have the daily grit to deliver exceptional customer service and to run an outstanding business, they will succeed.

My philosophy is not based on hollow words. When I entered the insurance and financial services business, I was still undergoing physical therapy following a horrific automobile that left me a quadriplegic. In my recovery, I developed the mindset to see myself heal, the determination to do whatever I could to improve inch by inch, step by step and most important, to have the grit to get better and be better every day.

It’s Not Beyond Your Ability

Never think that success is reserved for other people, it is right there for you. If you are determined to be successful in the insurance and financial services business you can do it. When I was recovering from my accident, I was surrounded by many terrific people who encouraged and pushed my healing. No one pushed me harder than I pushed myself.

However, there was one type of “visitor” I never allowed in my life: negative people. On your road to success, there will be negativity.

The truth is this: you can be successful. Be determined to be successful and have the grit to build something great for yourself. Let no one tell you otherwise.

Book Scott Burrows, Insurance and Financial Services Keynote Speaker today, for your next convention or sales meeting, through this website or by calling (520) 548-1169

Is Your Team Determined to Fight for Diversity?

Never before in the history of our nation has diversity been more of an issue than it is now. It is time for change, but it takes an active mindset to change the corporate vision. Are you determined to help in that fight?

Dollars and (Common) Sense

Business writer Caroline Forsey in her online November 2018 article “5 Awesome Benefits of Diversity at Work” raised several important points as to what a diverse team can do to benefit a company. These measurable effects include fostering innovation, development of better ideas, elevating a company’s culture, and improving customer service. Forsey went on to cite several impressive sales and performance statistics of diverse teams, among them:

Companies in the top quartile for being gender diverse are 15 percent more likely to have financial returns above the median.
Companies with the highest levels of racial diversity brought in 15 times more revenue than those with the lowest levels of diversity.
Diverse companies are 70%more likely to capture a new market.

Want to hire the best and brightest sales people? Statistics also show the 83 percent of Millennials want to work for more diverse companies, and overall close to 60 percent of employees want their workplaces to be more diverse.

If employees want more diversity, and it’s been proven that diversity improves sales, why isn’t it happening at a faster rate? It comes down to intention, and the determination, the daily grit to make it happen.

Sally Duby, writing for Forbes magazine (July 8, 2020) in “Walk The Talk To Create Diversity In Sales, Part One” raises four important points where corporations must have the vision to bring about the changes needed to be more diverse.

Leaders within a company should identify functional areas that need diversity; HR and the functional leaders should set concrete goals and steps to improving diversity; train the entire management team on the hiring and interview process to remove unconscious bias; and, in my view, the most important, encourage team members to refer diverse people.

When team members in the field are invested, when team members see how diverse sales efforts yield positive results, they will push for more diversity in their own workplace.

Duby concluded:

“Hiring a diverse workforce requires intentionality. It involves truly assessing where your company is at with its current hiring policies and having difficult conversations.”

Are You Determined to Fight?

Many factors made me a successful sales person and a champion of diversity. My accident took me from being a martial artist and football player to being a bedridden quadriplegic.

It was in that hospital bed that I saw myself with the mindset of being well. To rise up from that bed took every fiber of determination and daily grit to move again. That philosophy of Mindset-Resilience-Grit shaped my life and my sales abilities.

However, I did not get well by myself. I had a team of healthcare professionals who fought beside me. They were as diverse as you can imagine, but to my mind they had no race or religion. They were my friends. They fought with me and for me. I dearly came to love them.

When we pull together, we are all made stronger. When we believe in each other, there is nothing we can’t accomplish.

To book Scott Burrows, Corporate Diversity Speaker, for a virtual or live presentation contact us through this website or by calling: (520) 548-1169

What Do You Ask of Others That You Don’t Demand of Yourself?

As a keynote speaker on leadership and accountability, I have found that in terms of all the issues causing C-level executives to struggle, far and away, “accountability” is their biggest challenge. Leadership cannot survive without accountability in their organizations.

Business writer Shannon Howard, in a recent article “Holding employees accountable: where most leaders fail,” stated that C-level executives are often “not accountable for their own behaviors or deadlines.” She expanded that point by saying “When leaders fail to meet deadlines themselves, they’re not modeling the kind of behavior they want to see from their team. Let’s be honest: It’s hard to hold someone to a standard you’re not willing to hold yourself to.”

Accountability cannot be sporadic; it must be specific and consistent. If a leader is inconsistent, the leader is holding employees to a relative standard, which is often like having no standard at all. In fact, studies have determined that about 15 percent of CEOs keep ineffective employees on staff for far too long. In the long run, ineffective employees who refuse to be held accountable will damage the entire organization.

Echoing this sentiment, Joseph Folkman, writing for Forbes magazine said “Sometimes in organizations, it is really hard to focus. When we are sending multiple messages about what is critical and what others are accountable for, accountability dissipates. If you want people to be responsible, then you must clearly define the results that you want them to deliver, and let them have a fair amount of control on how they deliver those results.”

It all comes around to having the determination to hold yourself accountable and the vision to see it through.

Holding Yourself Accountable

New York Times bestselling author Ramit Sethi writing for Success magazine, outlines several steps of accountability that any executive as well as individuals can incorporate into their daily lives.

To summarize the steps: Create a schedule for what you want to accomplish, stop procrastinating and commit to it.

Set better goals: what are the goals specifically, how will you measure them, can you reach them and in what time-frame? Are your goals relevant to your success or are they unimportant?

Are you determined to be uncomfortable? Seriously, if you share the specific plan with those who will carry it out, there can be no equivocation on your part or theirs. If there is no vision of success, if there is no day-to-day grit in doing what must be done, then chances are it won’t get done.

Don’t forget about honesty and authenticity in this accountability equation. Be a leader and ask questions: can you achieve these goals, who will be responsible to get it done, how will we know if we are accomplishing what we had the vision to complete?

The objective for any leader is to demand of others no more or less than what you demand of yourself. Accountability is a shared vision of success. If everyone is held to the same standard of accountability, then accomplishment will follow.

Do you have the determination to lead and to hold those around you accountable? If you have that vision, expect that greatness may very well be the outcome.

Book Scott Burrows today, Leader and Accountability Motivational Speaker, through this website or by calling: (520) 548-1169

Where Will Your Organization Find Its Future Leaders?

As a motivational leadership keynote speaker, I often field questions from attendees as to how they can identify new leaders. Oftentimes I will answer, “How about the person standing next to you?”

The conversation may sometimes end at that point, or the person next to the guy answering the question might say, “Me? Oh, I’m not a leader, just a follower.”

How Would You Know?

Any organization, your organization, is looking for people to step up and lead. The problems are usually two-fold and are reflected in the brief exchange just a few sentences above. On one hand, most companies are always weighing their need to find leaders against their perceptions of how much it costs to recruit good leaders, and on the other hand, existing employees who could be fantastic leaders never think of themselves that way.

Marcel Schwantes, in a recent inc. magazine article entitled: “12 Ways to Identify the Future Leaders of Your Company Right Now,” discussed three important points (among many) worthy of deeper discussion: 1) focus on potential, not performance, 2) evaluate someone’s investment in the company’s future, and 3) farm your own in-house talent.

All three points require determination on the part of the executive team. Are you determined to see the potential in people? Are you determined to see those employees who are deeply invested in the company vision and with it, do you have the vision to do what it takes to transform them into leaders?

The Contract

If the organization is seeking leaders, future leaders within the company must have the determination and vision to be recognized as such.

As an employee, do you feel you have the potential to step up and lead? Are you invested in the future of your organization? If called upon to lead, do you have the daily grit to help elevate your company to the next level? Finally, if someone in your organization believes you have the tools to be a leader, will you shy away from the challenge or embrace the opportunity?

In 2017, the Wrike, Inc. collaborative work management platform published an inciteful article entitled: “9 Ways to Develop Your Leadership Skills.” It addresses any employee who wants to be recognized by their organizations as potential leadership material. The top three attributes are: practice discipline, take on more projects, and learn to follow.

All of those commitments require a seriousness of attitude and a directed focus to accomplishment. Discipline is a nice enough concept, but how many employees have the discipline to learn more about the job, to motivate others and to be dependable about doing quality work?

Leaders do more than what is required of them. Leaders see something that must be done and they will do it. More workload is often related to discipline. If employees are disciplined and they become more efficient, they can accomplish more.

Leaders learn to follow, and for many, this point is a problem. Following requires humility and acceptance. Many who claim to want to lead often have problems sublimating arrogance. In short, they are not team players. To lead and inspire great teams means to be willing to see many perspectives, to appreciate others and to help forge a common mission.

Organizations are looking for you, if you have the determination to do what it takes to be found.

To contact Scott Burrows, Inspirational Leadership Keynote Speaker, connect with his office today through this website or by calling: (520) 548-1169

Category: Leadership Speaker

Scott Burrows, Motivational Safety Speaker

A Safety Mindset is Not Optional

Scott Burrows, Grit and Resilience Speaker

Resilience is Forged by Determination & Grit

Scott Burrows, Association Keynote Speaker

Now, More Than Ever, Associations Must Engage Members

Scott Burrows, Insurance and Financial Services Keynote Speaker

Are You Determined to Know the Truth About Insurance Sales?

Scott Burrows, Corporate Speaker on Diversity & Inclusion

Is Your Team Determined to Fight for Diversity?

Scott Burrows, Leadership and Accountability Keynote Speaker

What Do You Ask of Others That You Don’t Demand of Yourself?

Scott Burrows, Motivational Leadership Keynote Speaker

Return to Blog Home

Recent Posts

Categories