Unlocking Potential: Interview #5

Garth Beyer

I love when people ask questions. But I’ve missed a huge part of the process. Like many others, I have always taken an exciting interest in answering questions and the discussion that follows, but I haven’t necessarily focused on the question-asking. It wasn’t until I spoke with Michelle that I learned there can be so much more to the questions that are asked in addition to the answers one may receive.

Michelle was trained in the criminal justice system at an early age and learned the importance of asking questions through clinical training (she’s a licensed social worker). As a probation officer, she relied heavily on facilitating conversations with clients in order to develop productive working relationships. And, you guessed it, asking questions was a big part of that.

Have you considered how business, social media, and finding connections is primarily fostered by the right questions? Can you imagine creating a job of your dreams based on assessment, questioning, and curiosity? Michelle is not only living proof, but lively proof that you can get the right answers if you ask the right questions. She excitedly participated in my Unlocking Potential interview, adding a fresh, unique addition to my series. (You can view the others here)

Enjoy.

Interview: Michelle Welsch

GB: I would love to know what you think your passion, or your life purpose is. You have this fire, this passion that is evident. What fuels it?

My passion has always been people. I love to learn about what makes people tick and hear their stories, learning about their world and how they see things. I’m fortunate that the work that I do helps people share their stories with others. Connecting people only amplifies that. I like watching people make strides professionally and personally, and I like to think I help people do this through observation, helping people own and recognize their own brand story and introducing others who might enhance their work. My focus has mostly been, “How can I help others?” — I had never seen myself in the driver’s seat, always walking alongside people and businesses and companies I might help reach their goals. But with Project Exponential, I’ve realized I’m now steering my own ship.

GB: I see that many of your writings and blog posts are inspirational and talk about courage and challenge. Do you write everyday? Do you see writing as a practice?

You can write everyday, but that doesn’t mean you have to publish every day. It’s valuable to get into the habit of writing. That moment of brilliance will never come if you’re waiting. You could be waiting a very long time for that perfect moment. The perfect circumstance will probably never happen, and then you’ll never finish anything. Just get in the habit of writing ideas, notes, quotes, observations about things you see that inspire you. You have to practice seeing the world in a way that corresponds to words. You learn to verbalize and communicate in a different way and how to transfer your thoughts onto paper. While practice can make the process more fluid, with anything there are ebbs and flows. I try to aim for moderation. Often times those moments when you think you have nothing to say are the important moments when you have to force yourself to write anyway.

GB: I have to ask, is there a book in store?

I’ve flirted with this idea, but we’ll see. It might be a fun goal. Recently I came across Austin Kleon’s advice: “Write the book you’d want to read.” I’m not entirely sure what I’d write about just yet. I’d need to have more of a concrete idea before I really consider.

GB: I just finished reading Keri Smith’s book: Living Out Loud. She mentions all great female writers have an intrinsically unique connection to nature. I’ve seen some recent photos of a trip to Peru on your twitter feed. Are the outdoors important to you?

I grew up in Colorado where the outdoors are an integral part of life. When I first moved to New York, I thought I was going to have to give that up. But I found Discover Outdoors and the Upper West Side, surrounded by Riverside Park, Morningside Park, and Central Park. Being outside has always been super important to me. I get the best ideas when I’m outside and running around. The ideas always happen when I’m someplace in Central Park, and then I have to repeat it over and over in my head until I can come home and write it down. I think that’s when the best moments happen, when you’re in a different environment.

GB: Now I’m going to shift the subject a bit. What’s it like working with Seth Godin? Do people equate you with him?

Working with Seth has been some of the most rewarding work I’ve done. He’s incredible to work with. With Seth, his work is his. It’s about picking yourself and creating your own name.

GB: You’ve certainly done that. How have your past experiences impacted your work?

My resume is a little nontraditional. I’ve managed to draw valuable lessons from a variety of environments — the court room, the South Bronx, higher ed settings, and clinical therapeutic settings. My transition from social work into the corporate, business world started really slowly. When I freelanced for Interbrand, I was a consultant in this very buttoned up corporate world, but I would often teach people the same skills I would teach, let’s say in probation or to disadvantaged youth, how to be genuine, human and approachable when communicating. My experience there acted as a type of “mini-MBA” and showed me what skills I could bring from my former career path into this new world of business and tech.

GB: It seems your consulting work helped lay the foundation for the creation of Project Exponential: the transition, the growth, the learning, the insight, and most importantly, the transferring of skills. I’m so curious about what you do. After looking through Project Exponential’s website, I immediately related to your passion, mind-set and way of thinking. I imagine you’re someone who likes to dabble in a little bit of everything (most of us who strive for success do). Is that why you make events where really different people come together?

When I first began to make the career switch, I started wondering what kinds of work people would do if they borrowed from a different industry — whether it would be better, more interesting, more creative. I started sending email introductions to people I had encountered who had similar interests or parallel work. Sometimes best intentions fall flat, and the intended coffee dates wouldn’t always happen. So I began selecting individuals and extending invitations to unique locations I had reserved throughout New York City. I wanted to run my fingers horizontally through industry verticals.

GB: So what happens during a Project Exponential event?

It’s always different, depending on who is there and what kind of space I choose to complement the group. The venues change; it could be a private room in a trendy restaurant where attendees have to walk through the kitchen, past the chef and the dishwashers to find it. I’ve held some at wine shops that separate part of the store for us while we are there. I’ve also hosted attendees in a basement dining room, and they’re treated to a four course meal. It’s an experience.

Before events, I spend time with each attendee, learning more about their work and creative process. It’s kind of like an assessment. I create specific, tailored exercises for each event so that people can learn more about each others work. One of my favorite parts of my work is to find the balance of structure, easing anxieties of being in a foreign place with strangers and creating the backdrop for serendipity to take place.

GB: Your understanding how to create problems and questions specifically to each group you curated is extraordinary. You’ve stepped away from traditional networking conventions. Why is it important to you to protect the names and titles of those attending?

I want to create a space where everyone’s on the same playing field. This anonymity allows people the freedom to step away from their work and whatever preconceived notions or judgements someone might have about what they do for one evening and connect with others in a meaningful way. There are plenty of events that list of the names of attendees. You go, hoping to meet specific people there and may walk way with a few business cards that, if you’re lucky, turn into something remarkable. You may also miss meeting a handful of incredible people who didn’t have the job or the title you wanted to see.

I have seen magic take place at Exponential events; people are following up with coffee dates, planning bike rides, helping each other with business ideas and expanding their networks. I’ve watched design directors brainstorm with entrepreneurs, athletes mix with CEOs, and writers engage in hearty conversation with bankers. My aim is to use this momentum to inspire others to do the same, step out of their industries and put themselves in new environments where boundaries can be crossed. I want people to ask, “How can I disrupt things?” and make something happen.

GB: What has been a highlight of your work with Project Exponential?

I take a lot of time putting each group together. With each event, I consider who needs to meet and at what point during the evening this connection might take place. Connections and common interests aren’t always clear, but it’s up to me to connect the dots. If I’m honest, there’s a quite a bit of anxiety for me in delivering something magical for each attendee, but it’s incredibly rewarding to watch two people interact in the way I had envisioned. I try to focus on providing the backdrop for magic to occur and let the people take care of the rest.

GB: What inspired you to make this career change? What got you going and what’s propelled you forward?

The move from the social good world to what I’m doing now was intentional but not necessarily direct. I knew that I needed to take specific action to get into the next realm and took small, manageable steps. With Exponential, it took more coaxing and courage, and I had to make the decision to commit to it. Seth’s work helped quite a bit.

We grow up learning that we have to find the job, do the work, and get paid. Suddenly it clicked: “What a minute, I can create this dream job I’ve been searching for.” And then it’s a matter of jumping. At first, it’s a bit of a bungee jump feeling — exciting and scary but you can’t wait to see what happens.

GB: How do you try to live your life? Are there any quotes that have inspired you?

“Leap, and the net will appear.” -John Burroughs

You have to take risks. No decision in life is irreversible. It’s much better to go and do and figure out how to fix it, and you’ll feel that much more satisfied with having tried it. You just have to do it. Jump. Go. It doesn’t matter if it’s in the wrong direction, you may end up with a more scenic, memorable ride. Just go. That’s how I ended up in New York.

Look and see how you can shake things up, be fearless. Whether it’s walking home from work a different way, trying a new restaurant, placing yourself in a new environment to meet new people, inviting random people to your house — just open that space for different things to come your way. It doesn’t have to be huge.

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You can find Michelle and her work online, most recently here. I have also shared a few of my favorites below.

You can ask Michelle questions of your own on twitter @redheadlefthand or send her an email at info@projectexponential.com.

To learn more about her project, visit www.projectexponential.com.

 

Stay Positive & #impresario

Garth E. Beyer

Shoes, Feet, And Fitting In

Garth Beyer
Usain Bolt: Worlds Fastest Man

Everything is a matter of perspective, especially when you are deciding if the shoe doesn’t fit.

I quoted Gloria Steinem as saying “If the shoe doesn’t fit, must we change the foot?” From the original perspective, no, we shouldn’t.

Then I took a really good look at my running shoes  and decided I needed a new pair. A pair that real athletes wear. A pair of shoes that will give me the feeling of being unworthy of wearing them – at first.

Let’s take a different perspective on Steinem’s question. The fact is, sometimes we must change the foot. Sometimes people make or buy shoes the way they do so that they have something to work towards, to shape themselves into so they can fit the shoe. It’s personal growth.

Wait. Take a step back. Don’t be confused with fitting into someone elses shoes. No. Create, design, and construct your own pair of shoes you want to fit into.

This is the beauty of changing the foot that Steinem never realized.

 

Stay Positive & Too Big Of Shoes Are Better Than Too Small

Garth E. Beyer

Every Expert Has It Easy. You Can Too

Garth Beyer

Let me put something out of assumption right away. I am in no way deploying a statement that says becoming an expert does not take hard work because it does – a lot of it.

Yet, math geniuses have it easy, famous writers have it easy, exceptional artists have it easy and every profession alike has it easy. They have it easy because they decide what they are going to be, long before they become so.

Experts make the decision whether they realize it or not that they will become experts when they follow their passion, their intuition,  and their dreams. In doing so, they pass all the screening processes put on through life to make it difficult for them to be the expert mathematician, the expert engineer, the expert artist.

Hard work will always be hard work, but when you make that decision and have that passion, it’s easy to do the hard work because you accept it, are aware of it, acknowledge it and believe it or not, you are sure as hell prepared for it.

And when I say you are prepared for it, it means you can get through every set-back, every road bump, every push that the action of “hard work” promotes. As you can expect, there is a lot of it.

You got this, but what do I know? You’re the expert.

 

Stay Positive & In The End, Easy Or Hard, You’re Still An Expert

Garth E. Beyer

Everyone

Garth Beyer
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Everyone has their problems, their battles, their emotions, their wars, and their own issues. Realizing this, knowing this, understanding this does not mean to put you to inaction. It does not mean to hold back, to deal, to settle, to not complain, to not feel.

Humans need to be better and if there is one way that is more available to us than not doing anything, it is doing something. It is taking action, reacting more passionately, releasing our empathy, our sympathy, our hopes that others can win their battles.

It is to encourage your neighbor, your tribe member, a stranger, that you not only acknowledged that they are having their problems, but that you have their back, support them and encourage them.

Problems are not stop signs, they are guidelines. – Robert H. Schuller

If there is one thing humans have the biggest habit of, it’s creating a mess of our lives, of making more problems and provoking difficult situations to arise. We’re not stupid, we just kind-of suck but we are aware that we can do better. We just have to act on it.

Everyone has their problems. It’s up to you to offer solutions because doing so starts an endless cycle of understanding, encouragement, togetherness and above all, -not less problems, life would be boring without them- but more solutions. And that gets us somewhere.

 

Stay Positive & I Feel Good For You Son

Garth E. Beyer

My Ishmael

Garth Beyer

I know that a couple book regurgitations ago I said that I really disliked reading books a second or third time. Not so ironically, this regurgitation of the book My Ishmael by Daniel Quinn is the result of a second reading. I knew it was an extremely powerful book and since I did not write a regurgitation last time, I wanted to write it before I gave it away for someone else to use as a tool to change the world.

The more books I read, especially ones by people like Daniel Quinn, the more I feel absolutely guilty of holding back the world when I put the book back on the shelf instead of giving it to someone else to read. Whether the person I give the book does the same or ends up sticking it on their shelf after reading it, at least I can say I gave a motivational tool to someone. I didn’t make it a keepsake. I helped the world become one person better than what it was by giving a good book to them. A good book can work wonders.

You will notice just how strong My Ishmael is as I write this regurgitation. Enjoy.

“Adults get real cranky if you quiz them about the scams they’re running on you.” (Pg 23) Real cranky, I might add.

 

If food became free, no more lock and no more key, what would become of thee.

You are food. You are who tradition feeds on endlessly.

But tradition holds the lock and you the key.- My own little jingle I came up with.

 

 

“Another rule of thumb you can use to identify the people of your culture is this: They perceive themselves to be members of a race that is fundamentally flawed and inherently doomed to suffering and misery. Because they’re fundamentally flawed, they expect wisdom to be a rare commodity, difficult to acquire. Because theyre inherently doomed, they’re not surprised to be living in the midst of poverty, injustice and crime, not surprised that their rulers are self-serving and corrupt, not surprised to be rendering the world uninhabitable for themselves. They may be indignant about these things, but they’re not surprised by them, because this is how they expect things to be.” (Pg 40)

I recently wrote a regurgitation on a book of history that persuaded me to comment about how history must to be taught in a way that teaches us “how” and “why”, not “what” happened. My Ishmael does part of it in the sense that he knows the future depends on understanding how we came to be the way we are.

I have always said that people want you to succeed, they really do. After reading My Ishmael, I realized why they do. People are meant to live successful lives. If we can just get enough people to ask themselves (ask yourself now), “Am I successful?” If the answer is no, then the way you’re living isn’t right and that effects everyone. You can’t not share success, so you must define what successful is and then try to live it that way for all of humanity to become wealthy. -And not the type of wealth that involves money, I’m speaking about the intangible kind of wealth-

 

Quinn notes how we perceive ourselves as being deprived of essential knowledge so special we can only access it through supernatural means. When really, essential knowledge comes from understanding and you don’t need superpowers to understand anything, just some time and a desire to actually understand it.Until that desire is declared, we will continue thinking of ourselves as wisdomonically impoverished. (Yes I made that word up)

Wisdom plays a huge role in Quinn’s reality that no invention ever comes into being fully developed in a single step from nothing. Wisdom is having an understanding of everything that has lead you to your current thought. It may take a billion ideas and theories before you become wise on a single subject just as it may take a billion projects and prototypes before an invention is fully developed. Most importantly, give it another year and the wise will become wiser and the inventor more inventive.

 

“Whatever grows without limit must inevitably end by overwhelming the universe” (Pg 62)

Quinn was sure to note that nothing comes into existence from failing and I had to add, ‘but anything can fail and become nonexistent.’

On the note of failure I must proclaim that anything that makes failure hurt will help you succeed.

“We know how to cope with everything that has already happened but we dont know how to cope with what has never happened before” – Daniel Quinn

Humans are passionate but inconsistent. [I’d like to quote myself on this…]

“I sense that more and more of you are becoming alarmed about your headlong plunge toward catastrophe. I sense that more and more of you are casting about for new ideas” (pg 127)

Quinn on school: “Do you know why students ask so many questions about their (the teachers) hobbies?” Because the teacher expresses real passion about it and even if the students don’t have any interest in their hobby, they are sung into listening from the teachers passion in telling.

School produces no value or skills because if they did, you would enter the job market competing with siblings for the same jobs that they worked to get by doing the menial jobs, the grunt work. That may be unfair to you, but I feel that the fact that it comes down to this is unfair.

“Imagine what a twelve-year-old with a musical bent could learn at a recording studio. Imagine what  twelve-year-old with an interest in animals could learn at a zoo. Imagine what a twelve-year-old with an interest in painting could learn in an artist’s studio. Imagine what a twelve-year-old with an interest in performing could learn in a circus.” (Pg 164)

I have to agree with Quinn that if people were free to follow their passions, there would not be a single occupation that someone wouldn’t pursue.

Note: One of Quinn’s golden nuggets is definitely his explanation of the ‘make products to get products’, ‘give support to get support’ charts. Highly worth reading just for that.

“A problem shared wildly is no problem at all” (Pg 183)

Quinn’s 7 point plan — One: the revolution won’t take place all at once. Two: it will be achieved incrementally, by people working off each other’s ideas. Three: it will be led by no one. Four: it will not be the initiative of any political, governmental, or religious body. Five: it has no target end point. Six: it will proceed according to no plan. Seven: it will reward those who further the revolution with the coin of the revolution.

 

A positive revolution can only occur when you give something better than what a person already has. By giving something better, they lose interest in what they we’re just doing. I suppose that is a background theme to why I write; I just want you to know of all the possibilities and options that are open to you in hopes that you will let go of the destructive habits well all indulge ourselves in. I give you my total support. No reservations.

Humans are taught to expect little from life. Can we change that?

 

Stay Positive & An Experienced Intriguer And Confidence Trickster

Garth E. Beyer

Turning Beauty Into Art

Garth Beyer
Credit and Source: Giuseppe Arcimboldo

“To stimulate creativity, one must develop the childlike inclination for play and the childlike desire for recognition.” – Albert Einstein

Anything can be art: a simple doodle, a crumpled paper or one huge collage of junk. The best art though is intentional art, no matter the depth of beauty.

Intentional art is art that originates from a beautiful source, it is not something the is created and then made beautiful. Knowing me, I have to say that everything is beautiful, but what you already believe is beautiful is the best source of art.

What are 5 things you think are beautiful? Now, how can you turn them into art?

It’s a simple process to becoming an artist. After knowing the answers to those two questions, all that is required is action, a bit of your imagination and a touch of insanity.

“Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere” – Albert Einstein

Stay Positive & Youthful

Garth E. Beyer

Start Schooling Dreams: Chapter Preview

Garth Beyer

107. Idol study

A common question that is asked in elementary school is “who is your hero?” It makes you think about who you look up to, who you admire, who you take after. They have children already thinking about how to emulate the successful but then middle school, high school, and higher education never asks it again, never follows up, and never checks in to see who students are paying more attention to than the teachers.

Could you see anything wrong with a class that is centered on emulating the previously successful? As the saying goes, you can’t do the same thing and expect different results. But why would it matter when the results of legendary people are already that, legendary. See, these heroes, these role models, these idols we look up to and attach ourselves to, they produce more inspiration than all the teachers combined.

The worst that could happen in a class focused on emulating these inspirational idols is that the student falls short. Fortunately, falling short of being legendary is still better than the breadth of success students are attaining now.

Want to know more about the release of Start Schooling Dreams? Keep stopping by, email me, or tweet me @TheGarthBox

 

Stay Positive & Anticipated

Garth E. Beyer