July 2019
ELECTRIC IMPULSE COMMUNICATIONS
NEWSLETTER
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HERBIE'S HINTS
(named after my dad!)
For all of the 25 years I was fortunate to show horses, people thought I was lucky. I was. My parents decided early in my life that fulfilling my passion for horses would have an ulterior benefit. Having the focus of the horses would help me stay on the straight and narrow, whatever straight and narrow meant to them in the 60’s.
When I was in sixth grade I brought my report card home. My dad looked at it and simply said, “I guess you get to keep the horses for another grading period”. I NEVER wanted to find out if he was serious or if this was an example of the dry Herbie humor.
In seventh grade we had moved to a new school district. One Saturday new friends invited me to hang out at the mall. I was thrilled to be included in the pre-teen hang-out-at-the-mall afternoon. When my mom picked me up she said that if I wanted to have horses I did not have the time to spend idly at the mall. I could choose the horses or the mall.
I was fortunate. Everything has a price of admittance.
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ASK LESLIE
Stay on Your Cutting Edge
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Leadership presence is 24/7. Leaders don’t get to take time outs from their visible, verbal and vocal role of being a leader. In this brief video from the Round Pen at first glance it may look like Grey Lady, the horse, is slow to react to the human’s directions.
At second glance look and listen to the lack of congruent cues. At HorseTalk, the horse is an honest mirror. Look in your honest mirror each day and make sure that your three V’s are communicating the same message
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Perspectives on Mother-Daughter Horse Program. For a second time a mother requested a program for moms and daughters to participate together. It just might have been my best program ever! Moms trusted daughters, daughters led horses, moms learned something new, daughters painted every inch of Grey Lady!
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1. We Are What We Tell Ourselves
I call it the stories we tell ourselves. Others call it self–talk. Whatever you want to call it, it was clearly present as we began the horse morning. After the girls learned how to pick up a hoof, the moms could try. For one mom Penny lifted her hoof for a split second and put it down. THE MOM SAID, “I WILL NEVER GET HER TO PICK IT UP AGAIN.”
Lesson Learned:
Penny the horse did not wake up that morning and say, I am going to lift my hoof once and once only. The mom was quick to see a negative outcome. How we are with a horse, is how we are in life. We need to replace the negative self-talk with positive stories of I CAN DO IT. Yes, the mom asked a second time and Penny did lift up her hoof.
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2. Moms Trusting Daughters
I changed up the Blind Walk to first have mothers be “blind” and daughters the “sighted” partner tasked with safely escorting their mom around the farm. This meant that moms would have to trust their daughters with their own physical safely. Usually daughters are tasked with trusting their mom with their own physical safety.
Lesson Learned:
Whenever you can reverse a traditional idea, strategy or way of doing something – DO IT. Some call it thinking outside the box, I call it thinking upside down. The mothers and daughters finished the exercise safely. Short of moms going to their daughters classes, grocery store CEO’s working the cash registers, doctors working admittance;
how can you create the discomfort that inspires growth?
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3. The Horse Sets the Boundaries
I do believe that every horse should be loved by a little girl at least once in their life. Being “loved” means different things to different horses, dogs and people! Not everyone wants to be loved in the same way.
Lesson Learned:
The girls and the moms could give Penny a kiss on her face. Fionn, the Gypsy Vanner, was not having anything to do with smooches: petting was acceptable but no kissing! Sunny said yes to kisses, yet Grey Lady not so much.
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4. Lead with Confidence
The summer before I started at The University of Akron, there was a full page article about my horse in the Akron Beacon Journal. When I went for freshman orientation, I clearly remember the well-known history professor Dr. Knepper at my orientation. He declared in front of hundreds of freshmen, that if I could get a horse to do what I wanted it to do, I could get a book to do what I wanted it to do.
Lesson Learned:
I have long remembered that advice. I passed it on to the girls once they led a horse or successfully got a horse to Whoa when they wanted. I told them if they could get the horse to do what they wanted, they could get a book or a friend or a term paper to do what they wanted. Leading a 1,000 pound horse or a 2,000 pound horse, I wanted them to take with them the lesson that if they could lead a horse, they can do anything.
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5. The Value of Fun
Forbes studies revealed that if work were more fun, it would be more productive and more profitable. With this thought in mind I decided that if HorseTalk was more fun, it could be more productive. With some groups fun is organic. I decided to plan for fun instead of waiting for it to happen. As participants learn at HorseTalk, hope is not a strategy. I decided to follow my own advice.
Lesson Learned:
Adults now put a painted handprint on Grey Lady when they finish their time in the Round Pen. Daughters got to cover Grey Lady from head to tail on both sides in critter safe paint! They wrote their names, stenciled designs, put their handprints, and gave her a blue mane and tail.
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Leslie in Person
July 25 - Professional Etiquette
September 5 - Apple Growth Speed Networking
September 25 - Apple Growth Professional Development
October 7/8 - International Elastomer Conference
October 22 - Sixth District Educational Compact
Forum 360 with Leslie as Moderator
Upcoming Shows:
Pulse Point with Joseph Natko, District Chief Akron Fire Department
The Civility Center with Dr. Matt Akers, Bliss Institute
Watch/ Listen to Forum 360:
Western Reserve Public Media, PBS-TV, PBS Fusion Channels 45 & 49 (Time Warner channel 993) - Mondays at 8 pm and Saturdays at 5:00 pm. After the show airs, you can download it
here.
WONE FM 97.5 Sunday 6 am
WAKR AM 1590 Sunday, 5:00 pm, Monday 12:30 am For online streaming go to
http://akronnewsnow.com/
and click Listen Live.
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At HorseTalk a participant once asked me, “does everything have to be a lesson”? I thought about it for a moment and said yes. With their investment of time and money everything does has to be a lesson.
Sometimes with Benji I forget that everything does not have to be a lesson. Sometimes Benji adds to my life just because. Just because he is there with me. Just because he is waiting when I get out of the shower, sitting with me while I finesse a speech hour after hour. There doesn’t always have to be a lesson. Just because he is there is lesson enough. And that he is cute doesn’t hurt.
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August 2 or September 20
An energizing leadership experience with lasting results!
A unique way to confront what’s impacting you: What is preventing you or your team from reaching its highest performance? A day like no day you have experienced before.
October 29: Special Combined Boot Camp & Video Session, from 1pm - 5pm
It’s a BOOT CAMP because it is intensive, interactive, and there may be some walking although NO marching will be involved.
*Text or email your favorite media star and come for half price.
*Email us at
[email protected]
for further information or to RSVP to one of our events.
Ask me about my 10 in 10!
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