2013 GoPro IBA New South Wales South Coast Crusade.

1- Amaury Lavernhe
2- Jones Russel

2013 GoPro IBA New South Wales South Coast Crusade - Trailer

The 6 People You Need in Your Corner.

Nothing incredible is accomplished alone. You need others to help you, and you need to help others. With the right team, you can form a web of connections to make the seemingly impossible practically inevitable.

The Instigator:

Someone who pushes you, who makes you think. Who motivates you to get up and go, and try, and make things happen. You want to keep this person energized, and enthusiastic. This is the voice of inspiration.

Do You Have What It Takes To Be A Great Leader? Take The Test...

Most everyone, regardless of their current role, wonders if they’ve got the right stuff to become a strong leader. Today is your chance to find out.

I became aware this week of an interesting platform and philosophy of character-based leadership created by Aprille Trupiano, an International Business Coach in St. Louis, MO. Her philosophy stresses the principles (not the tactics) that turn strong individuals into prospective leaders, and that will invariably make the difference for current leaders between beinggood and rising to all-out great. Aprille’s experience is that when leadership principles are instilled and practiced, the tactics arise as natural behaviors.

This is a philosophy that resonates very much with my own.  My emphasis and focus, as readers of this column are aware, is on the 7 Non-Negotiables of Winning:  Respect, Belief, Loyalty, Commitment, Trust, Courage and Gratitude. (It’s also the focus of my upcoming book, due out Aug. 6.)

Aprille speaks and writes about 5 C’s of Leadership that have the potential not only to change the course of business organizations, but to change families, neighborhoods, community endeavors—perhaps even the world.

I endorse this philosophy fully. In summary, the 5 C’s are as follows:

#1: Demonstrate CHARACTER

Of the many facets of leadership none rank higher than strong character, which is illustrated through unwavering integrity.  Be impeccable with your word.  Do what you said you’d do, when you said you’d do it, and do it with excellence even if (and especially when) nobody is watching.  Do the right thing, even when it’s uncomfortable, difficult or bears a high cost.  Integrity defines leadership.

It's Jeff Hubbard Day - April 2nd

Today the Mayor of Kauai proclaimed April 2nd as Jeff Hubbard Day in honor of his earning the title of 3 X world body-boarding champion!

Congratulations Jeff, Aloha.

The Ten Golden Rules on Living the Good Life

What is good life? What is happiness? What is success? What is pleasure? How should I treat other people? How should I cope with unfortunate events? How can I get rid off unnecessary worry? How should I handle liberty?

The answers to all these questions are condensed in a little book, The Ten Golden Rules I co-authored with Michael Soupios:

1. Examine life, engage life with vengeance; always search for new pleasures and new destines to reach with your mind. This rule isn’t new. It echoes the verses of ancient Greek philosophers and most notably those of Plato through the voice of his hero, Socrates.  Living life is about examining life through reason, nature’s greatest gift to humanity. The importance of reason in sensing and examining life is evident in all phases of life– from the infant who strains to explore its new surroundings to the grandparent who actively reads and assesses the headlines of the daily paper.  Reason lets human beings participate in life, to be human is to think, appraise, and explore the world, discovering new sources of material and spiritual pleasure.

2. Worry only about the things that are in your control, the things that can be influenced and changed by your actions, not about the things that are beyond your capacity to direct or alter. This rule summarizes several important features of ancient Stoic wisdom — features that remain powerfully suggestive for modern times. Most notably the belief in an ultimately rational order operating in the universe reflecting a benign providence that ensures proper outcomes in life.  Thinkers such as Epictetus did not simply prescribe “faith” as an abstract philosophical principle; they offered a concrete strategy based on intellectual and spiritual discipline.  The key to resisting the hardship and discord that intrude upon every human life, is to cultivate a certain attitude toward adversity based on the critical distinction between those things we are able to control versus those which are beyond our capacity to manage.  The misguided investor may not be able to recover his fortune but he can resist the tendency to engage in self-torment. The victims of a natural disaster, a major illness or an accident may not be able to recover and live their lives the way they used to, but they too can save themselves the self-torment.   In other words, while we cannot control all of the outcomes we seek in life, we certainly can control our responses to these outcomes and herein lies our potential for a life that is both happy and fulfilled.