My Next Chapter

I have learned, that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. - Henry David Thoreau

* So here’s the long and short of it: After a truly amazing 17+ year ride, I am leaving the LIVESTRONG Foundation, effective mid June 2015, and joining the Love Hope Strength Foundation.

I’ve been fortunate to have several significant chapters in my life, each one building on the next. I’ve been blessed as each phase has had a beginning and end, and yet cursed for the same reason – saying goodbye is never easy. From my early days in the restaurant business, to military life, and my most recent years in the cancer / cycling communities, each stage has surrounded me with outstanding people and amazing opportunities, and I’m happy to say the process continues.

Let me answer a couple of obvious questions:

- Why am I leaving?

The simple answer is I’ve felt called to lead an organization for some time now, wanting to apply all that I’ve learned here and help another organization grow and succeed. I feel the timing is right: LIVESTRONG has emerged from its rocky timeframe and is now on solid ground with outstanding leadership and vision. But I couldn’t leave to work with just any organization or business; I had to feel as passionate about the mission and opportunity as I have here and in the other chapters of my life. And I’ve definitely found that shared passion in the people involved with the LHSF mission.

 - What is the Love Hope Strength Foundation,
   and what will I be doing?
LHSF is a cancer organization that I first became acquainted with back in 2009 at the LIVESTRONG Global Cancer Summit. We have two primary missions: saving lives one concert at a time by registering potential donors to the national bone marrow donor registry, and creating international cancer projects through life-changing treks. I am honored to serve as their next President and CEO and will work with an incredible team that truly saves lives in everything they do.

When I told a close friend and colleague about my decision, she told me that the news was “bittersweet,” and that’s the perfect word to describe how I’m feeling. I am so proud of all that LIVESTRONG has accomplished and will continue to do in the years ahead, and I’ll miss being a part of that. I leave the organization knowing that it’s in great shape with one of the best staff in the nonprofit industry. And I cannot wait to help make a difference with a new team that provides hope to so many on both the domestic and international cancer frontlines, and have a lot of fun along the way!

Looking back and looking ahead, all I can think to say is, “Thank you!“

• Thank you to my family for being there through thick and thin and my many times away on the road.
• Thank you because when I said I am indebted to LIVESTRONG for the experiences I’ve had, I hardly know where to begin. The organization gave meaning to my life following some of my darkest periods, including my own cancer experience and the passing of my brother and so many other close friends to this dreaded disease.
• Thank you to all the LAF / LIVESTRONG people who’ve made this chapter so significant, names like: Lance, Garve, College, Karl, Rita, Marion, Renee, Mitch, Willy, Dave, Tina, Kim, Allison, Brooke, Betty, Doug, Brendan, Phil, Morgan, Helen and the many other staff, Board, and volunteers I’ve worked with along the way.
• Thank you to the groups that have meant so much to me, in particular Cyclists Combating Cancer, Team LIVESTRONG’s RAGBRAI crew, and the LIVESTRONG Leaders.
• Thank you to Mike, James, and the Board and staff of Love Hope Strength for trusting and believing in me. And thank you to the incredible LHSF partners, sponsors, and volunteers for your tireless efforts to save lives in the cancer community! I promise you I will give you my best and am honored to serve alongside you.
• And finally thank you to the LIVESTRONG supporters and the people we’ve served. You have taught me so much about life, and what it truly means to live strong.

I’m a blessed man for many reasons, and as this chapter closes the next one looks to be even more exciting - I hope you’ll want to be a part of this one, too. As always, thanks for ALL you do - ciao for now - and we’ll talk soon – Cb…

Is Your Elevator Speech Going Up or Down?

It’s not an uncommon expectation to be told you need to have an “elevator speech” for whatever it is you’re trying to pitch / represent. While I certainly agree with this, I think it’s important to view this as a building block for a potentially more comprehensive discussion based on the circumstances. And like most things in business, it takes a little planning to get there.

*** For those not familiar with the phrase, an elevator speech refers to what you could tell someone about something in the normal time you would be an elevator together, so think 30-60 seconds.

What it is: a succinct, confident summary of the overall mission / objective.

What it is not: a hesitant set of details relevant to the mission / objective.

I believe in writing about what you know, so I’ll use the example of my experience at the LIVESTRONG Foundation.  When someone asks me, “Who do you work for?” I can say:

"I work for the LIVESTRONG Foundation. We’re a charity that helps anyone with cancer, right now - for free - and that includes the patient, family members, and friends. We know that cancer research is important, and thankfully lots of people are working in this area.  But if you’re diagnosed today with something like lung cancer, being told there might be an effective treatment for you in about 10 years isn’t much help. So we focus on what can be done right now, in multiple ways."

That’s about 20 seconds of time (yes, I checked) and summarizes our mission and differentiates our organization from others. That could be the beginning and end of the interaction, and the person who asked now has a very basic understanding about the LIVESTRONG Foundation. Hopefully it sets the stage for wanting to learn more, and this leads to the concept of the elevator speech being your foundation for more information.

*** During my military career I worked for a Colonel who told us that when it came time to brief him, be prepared to be at least 3 questions deep. He wanted us to try and anticipate what he might ask; not only making us more efficient in the briefing process (vs. saying, "Sorry, sir, I don’t know that but I’ll get back to you ASAP.") and also getting us to think like an executive.

Using my previous example, some questions to anticipate might be:

• What are your key programs at LIVESTRONG?
• What’s your annual budget, and how much of that goes to services?
• Why don’t you fund clinical cancer research?
• Whatever really happened with Lance Armstrong?
• What’s next for the Foundation?

And having thought out the answers to these questions, you can also use them for a more proactive approach / structure if the person or group wants to know more, such as in an interview or giving a speech:

Overarching theme:
The LIVESTRONG Foundation helps people with cancer, right now.

• Point 1 – Survivorship and Navigation services
• Point 2 – Where the money goes
• Point 3 – Our future partnership with the UT Medical School

This idea of having an effective elevator speech is necessary in practically all facets of business, from sales / fundraising, to conferences / presentations, and communications / marketing. But it is not enough on its own; it’s your foot-in-the-door building block to having a more engaged and meaningful conversation.  Good luck, now get out there and practice! Ciao for now – Cb…

Simple But Substantial Change

It’s no big secret that I have become a big fan of the reality show, “The Biggest Loser.” The hook for me is seeing people who have let things get so out of hand that they must face massive changes in their lives, often times with life or death ramifications.

For example: The women on the show weigh over 200 or 300 pounds and the men weigh over 300 or 400 pounds. A 2011 Gallup poll reported that women in the USA average 160, and men are at 196.

And while I will be very interested to see the metamorphoses of these folks by the end of the show, I keep seeing and hearing little bits of advice that really can make a difference in all of our lives, and last night I got a good one (but let’s face it, it is a “reality show” - they get to work out 6 hours a day with dedicated staff, have full medical care, and their diets are planned and watched like a hawk. Sign me up!).

One of the contestants was monitoring another team’s session, and sat in with them. The trainer asked her the question, “What is it in your past that has kept you from achieving your fitness goals?”

You see, this very heavy woman is not stupid, nor does she want to weigh 300 pounds. She has tried and tried, as have most of the contestants, to lose the weight over the years, but yet here she is. After some soul searching and further questions, she finally admitted that she had an alcoholic father who had passed away when she was 16, and while she held him in very high regard, his behavior to her was at times very good, and at times very dark – and she’d never really dealt with it, aside from using food as a buffer for her feelings…

And that brought me to my own personal crossroad of sorts, even making it my Twitter #FitnessTip today: “What's personally stopped you from achieving things in the past? You have to truly address that, as well as have goals & plans.” I know I have something to change, and I’m going to do it. I’ll let you know how that works out as we head on down the road this year…

I think we all have something(s) simple in terms of identifying it, and substantial in terms of its effect if we change it, in our lives. That could be obvious things like stopping smoking, increasing exercise, or cutting back on excessive things like sugary foods or booze. But it could also be having the courage to not only identify a person, event, or an illness in our past that we have not addressed, but then taking action to do something positive about it.

So my challenge to you today is to think about what your goals and plans have been in the past, and what really stopped you from achieving them? And have you addressed those issues? If you haven’t, you need to – I know I need to – otherwise we’re most likely going to act out that often quoted definition of insanity, repeating the same thing again and again, but expecting a different result each time. Ciao for now, and thanks for checking in! – Cb…