Brigadier General USA, Retired

Mike is a professional speaker, trainer, and bestselling author who has been providing motivational and inspirational presentations to groups and organizations for over 20 years. His background includes working for a Fortune 500 company, serving as an elected official, owning and operating various successful private businesses, serving in a variety of volunteer organizations and on a number of Board of Directors’. Mike is a founding member of Day of Excellence, a non-profit organization, in its fifteenth year, with a mission of providing an event for individuals to grow and become the best version of themselves, both personally and professionally. He is the founder and primary trainer for Journey In Excellence, serves as a primary speaker for the Peak Performance Mastermind and is a regular contributor to Absolute Motivation, one of the premier motivational channels on YouTube with over 1.4 million subscribers. Mike is also a combat Veteran who wore the uniform of the United States Army through his service in the South Dakota Army National Guard and served in multiple deployments including Operation Iraqi Freedom in Iraq, and Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. Mike recently retired after 36 years of service at the rank of Brigadier General.

Through service in these positions, continued professional education in performance excellence, 36 years of marriage to his wife Jo and raising four kids, Mike has acquired a tremendous background in leadership, teamwork and motivating people.  He understands what it takes to build and maintain a positive attitude and how to motivate those around you to be better than they believe is possible. 

Mike’s philosophy of “when we become better at who we are, we become better in all we do”, drives his passion to spread a message of self-improvement and helping people realize their maximum potential. He uses humor and real-life experiences to ensure participants connect to the message and learn to recognize the “negativity traps” that affect our attitudes. His overall mission is to assist individuals and organizations to perform at such a level that Excellence becomes their Average.

 

Topics:

HOW TO LIVE WHERE EXCELLENCE BECOMES YOUR AVERAGE

This presentation creates an attitude of “run through a wall to accomplish the mission” for the people on your team!  Our attitude is the most important factor in all we do and, it is completely within our control. This gives us the tools that drive us to go positive instead of negative when life happens and ensures we bring our best self each and every day. It is based on the premise that when we get better at who we are we become better in all we do!

 

FIRST YOU GIVE…

Communications and relationship building are the two most important ingredients in building Trust. And, since organizations move at the speed of trust, it is vital to the effective operation of every organization. This presentation helps us identify not just “who” we are but also “how” we are. It also assists us in identifying those same traits of our teammates which increases our effective communication and team culture tremendously!

 

RE-CONFIGGER YOUR “TIGGER”

Building a resilient and positive persona is important in ensuring we are able to persevere and stay committed to the goal even when it gets challenging, but it is crucial when it comes to our ability to “bounce back” when life knocks us down. This presentation goes deep into identifying and understanding our purpose in everything that we do, employing positive realism and flexible determination along with self-awareness and self-management. It provides us with the tools to bring out our “inner Tigger”, even if we are surrounded by a bunch of Eeyore’s and thrive through all the challenges to tremendous success! 

 

LEAD, FOLLOW OR GET OUT OF THE WAY

Such a broad topic has a number of potential deliveries, but one thing is certain, you don’t have to be in charge to be a leader. This presentation addresses the incredible importance of not just being a great leader, but also a great follower and teammate to maximize your value on every team. It also addresses essential components to maximize the effectiveness of leadership at every level.

 

CHANGE IS AWESOME

Not only accepting change but embracing it and seeking new changes to make a better you and a better organization. Change brings risk and risk is a powerful component of excitement.  Helping your team see how change is exciting and provides fresh opportunities for new processes or validates current practices. Either way, our perspective on change is the main determinant in our attitude on change. This presentation takes your organization from “tolerating change” to “seeking change opportunities”!