FULL TRANSCRIPT

00:00 – Show OpeningAre you a professional who wants to become a more effective leader? Then get ready for daily tips from the coach with the experience and inspiration to help you succeed in any leadership situation. You’re listening to the Meeting Leadership Podcast with Gordon Sheppard.

00:27 – Start Here – Podcast content starts here!

 Welcome to another episode of the meeting leadership podcast. My name is Gordon Sheppard. I’m so grateful to have you here today because if you’re here, it means that you are the type of leader who’s ready to grow. You’re the type of leader who wants to build one more skill into their tool bag, and you want to get some practical strategies about how to run outstanding meetings. And today we’re going to talk about one of the most basic building blocks that every leader must have. And that’s because we’re gonna talk about why effective meetings start with you. Now, whether you’re the leader or the follower, you can choose how you act during a meeting. If you want to come in unprepared, you want to be distracted during the meeting, maybe check your phone and you want to talk too much, you can do that. Or you can come in, you can really respect your colleagues by being prepared. You can be an active listener and you can be accountable for the things that you need to do after the meeting.

01:18 – Take responsibility for yourself in meetings

 It really is up to you. And I have to admit, I haven’t always understood this idea. And let me tell you a little story to illustrate this. Back in around 2004 I was working in a corporate setting. And I can tell you there was a lot of things that I really kind of didn’t like about the situation that I was in. And then one of the big ones was the weekly staff updates meeting. And I would just go there and I didn’t like it. Whether it was right or wrong, I can tell you that they were long, and I’m going to suggest they didn’t get as much accomplished as I would’ve liked, but that wasn’t the main thing. I just really didn’t like them. And the worst thing that I did about those, was I would complain about them. I would complain about them almost to anybody who would listen. And you know the worst person that I complained to about them was my wife. And back in about 2004, I’m mentioning this because there was a day in the spring when we were in the kitchen and I was complaining again, and she looked at me and she said, “Shut up.” Well, of course I was absolutely shocked, but that was really one of the first moments when I started to think about taking responsibility for myself. And I think if there’s a gift in this episode, it’s just that. Learn how to take responsibility for yourself in a meeting, and it’s going to go significantly better. And another massive inspiration for me in this area is Viktor Frankl. Now he wrote a book, it’s called Man’s Search For Meaning. It is a bucket list must read for everybody. It’s short, but really the wisdom in there that I’m going to sort of try and condense for you right now, it’s absolutely a game changer in anybody’s life.

02:50 – You can choose how to respond  

And here’s what happened to Viktor Frankl. He was taken prisoner of war in the Nazi concentration camps in World War II. When he went in there, one in 28 people made it out alive. People around him being beaten, starved, tortured, murdered. And when he was in there, he made a great discovery that he then passed along to the world. He found that between stimulus and response, in-between people around him being beaten, starved, tortured, murdered, and his response to that, well, there’s a gap. And in that gap is the power to choose your response. And if you can choose your response, you can choose your freedom. Now we can all see how that is a massive lesson just for your life.

03:33 – More on choosing how to conduct yourself during a meeting – ​https://meetingleadershipinc.com/18

But can you imagine if everybody in your next meeting really understood that? They really understood whether they were the leader or the follower, that they could choose how they act during a meeting. And what would happen in your next meeting if everybody had this attitude? Would the meeting be more productive? Would the meeting be more profitable? And if you’d like even more great tips about how to act during a meeting, then check out Episode 18 on the Meeting Leadership Podcast. It’s called You Can Choose How To Conduct Yourself in a Meeting. And you can find that episode at MeetingLeadershipInc.com/18.

04:08 – Meeting Leadership Academy

 And I also want to let you know that this episode of the Meeting Leadership Podcast is brought to you by the Meeting Leadership Academy. If you and your team really want to learn how to take responsibility for yourselves and a whole lot more, than visit MeetingLeadershipInc.com/Academy. And as always, thank you so much for listening, and we’ll see you tomorrow on the Meeting Leadership Podcast.

04:31- Podcast Outro       

 Thanks for listening to the Meeting Leadership Podcast. Be sure to subscribe for more strategies to help you become an outstanding leader. And don’t forget to rate and review so we can bring you fresh content every day. We’ll see you tomorrow, right here on the Meeting Leadership Podcast.