Webinar: How to Overcome Uncertainty and Create a Powerful Future

The following transcript was auto-generated from the video version of the webinar. Please excuse any typos / inaccuracies.

Keith Wolf:

Okay. All right. Welcome everybody. See some folks still joining, which is great. We’re going to go ahead and get started so we can am promptly at three o’clock. So welcome to our webinar today. I’m Keith Wolf, I’m the managing director of Murray Resources. We’re a Houston based recruiting firm and I’m also the CEO of ResumeSpice. We career coaching and resume writing service. Now, before we get started, we have a few housekeeping items to go over. The webinar is going to be 60 minutes. So we’re going to do our best to end at 3:00 PM central. We’re also going to try to answer as many live questions as we can. So please put them in the Q and a box and we will answer them during and at the end of the presentation. Now this is a webinar format, so you don’t have to worry about anyone being able to see you.

Keith Wolf:

There are over 400 people on this call, so we’re going to keep everybody on mute so we can make sure we can hear our speaker. Now the webinar is being recorded and you’ll be able to watch it later if you miss anything. And we’ll be sharing the slides with everyone who registered now, before we get started with today’s webinar, I just want to thank everybody. Who’s taking the time to join these calls. And we started hosting these webinars back in April. We had no idea how many folks would attend, and we’ve really been blown away by the response. It’s now our seventh webinar. We’ve hosted over 2000 different professionals. We’ve attended at least one webinar with majority attending several. And some of you haven’t missed any, which is amazing. I don’t think there’s anything quite like attending a live webinar, but if you have missed one, we’ve recorded all of them and you can go to Marie resources.com forward slash events to watch any you may have missed.

Keith Wolf:

So a big thank you to everyone who’s attended and also a big thank you to everyone who shared these webinars with colleagues and friends and family members, whether you’re doing it over email or via LinkedIn, we really appreciate your spreading the word so that others can also benefit. So let’s get to today’s talk. It is titled how to overcome uncertainty and create a powerful future. I think it’s the perfect topic for where we are right now, because there is so much uncertainty and the landscape seems to change almost every day, but how we use this time, we can to not only get by, but actually come out stronger. So important. We don’t know when that’s going to be, but it will happen. Our speaker today is Bambi McCullough, and she is the co founder and owner of Chrysalis partners. She works with leaders from small to medium sized companies to fortune 100 organizations and nonprofits they’re seeking breakthroughs and she helps them achieve it.

Keith Wolf:

She has more than two decades of experience of working with CEOs and their teams to achieve extraordinary new levels of performance. Now, prior to founding Chrysalis partners, baby spent 24 years as an executive at a Texas bank where she learned firsthand what works and what doesn’t and why. And from being the chief human resources executive to a bank CEO, a Bambi is a highly sought after keynote speaker. She’s presented at national conferences at American society of training and development and the society of human resource management. She has spoken to a number of companies that, you know, including Exxon Dinae G Amegy bank, as well as international business conferences and she’s led leadership programs for rice university. So we’re very excited to have Bambi speak with us today on this important topic. So with that Bambi, thank you for speaking to our group today. And with that, the floor is all yours.

Bambi McCullough:

Thank you, Keith. I’m excited to be here. Well, I’m really excited to be here. Thank you for the opportunity. It is a crazy time we’re living in and the, the, I guess the good thing about it is we’re all in it together. So welcome. And thank you for the opportunity to contribute today. The first thing I’d like for you to do is I’d like for you to go into the chat and I’d like you to type it in and a word or two that describes what’s what’s your current mood? What is your current, if you look to see what are some words that would describe your current mood in the current environment you’re in are you, you know, I would say today, I’m excited. I’m a little nervous, cause I always do get nervous. And when we’re talking about technology, we never know how technology is going to go.

Bambi McCullough:

So my slides have been a little wonky already. So what are some of the, what are some of the words that describe? You know, so let’s just see what people are saying. Frustrated, dismal, overwhelmed, optimistic, infinite loop in a font, frustrated, curious, hopeful, nervous, tired, scared, anxious, content, apprehensive, lots and lots and lots. Yeah. Keep typing. Very good. I got emotional a bit overwhelmed. Yeah. There’s a, there’s a lot of emotions going on in the world today and it’s understandable because these are unprecedented times for us, like he said, and and we’re, and you know, we’re doing the best we can. And I would say that actually you’re here says that you’re doing something right. You’re reaching out. You’re looking to see how you can learn. You’re looking to see what can I do to do better. But if you’ve gotten to the point you’re at right now, I would say, you might want to congratulate yourself, but you’re here.

Bambi McCullough:

I suspect because first of all, because Mary’s put on a lot of great webinars. I’ve watched some of them before or today’s session, but also what can I do differently? You know, I’m doing the best I can. Is there something else I can do better? So we have overcome uncertainty and I’ll be honest with you. You know, business is risky. Life is uncertain, even though this may be a challenging time, right? Like you to consider that life has always been uncertain. We take risks and sometimes they turn out we like it to be more predictable. You know, we still don’t know what’s going to happen with the schools. I know people are worried about what’s going to happen with my kids. Where are they going to go to school and then come back? Yeah. Well, here’s some more words to keep adding your word, positive, hopeful, optimistic, but anxious.

Bambi McCullough:

Very good. Great words. Okay, good. So now let’s look at how do we create a future when we’ve got so much uncertainty? Well, the first thing I’d like you to consider, and this is work that we do with our clients, which is people’s, the actions are consistent with how the future looks. So how the future looks impacts our actions. And so if you were going to see if we can get, if you, you think about a time that you went on vacation and Peter Ben had a picture like this and said, man, would I love to go there? Yeah. That I’m looking for that vacation, but I don’t know about you. If the actions are consistent with how the future looks when I’ve got a vacation, even if it’s a state case, and I’m just going to have time to quiet, quiet time to read that impacts my actions weeks before the vacation.

Bambi McCullough:

So I’m packing. If I’m going somewhere, I might be buying outfits. You might be working out okay. If you’ve got your stay-cation where you’re gonna get some time alone, you might actually make sure you can get all the work done so that you’re not worried about work. I actually find I’m more productive when I’m going on vacation again. And one of these days we will go on vacation again. And I don’t know that many of us have these things, education planned for ourselves right now, but, but I’d like you to consider that the actions you’re taking are consistent with how the future looks from your spot, from where you are. So, and unfortunately right now, how the future is impacted is by this wonderful horrible Corona virus. And so our actions are consistent with, especially when we thought it was getting better and then got worse.

Bambi McCullough:

So that’s right now that Corona virus, just, as you see in the picture is, are impacting our actions. And so how do we create a future when it, when you know, we, we might’ve moved a few steps forward, right? Then we had to take a few steps back. Well, one of the first things that I would say, and I can say a hundred things about this today, but so I’m, my goal is to get some that will resonate with you. Okay. But one of the things that I’d like you to consider is, well, first of all, we’re all in this together. I mean, we all, it was like, Holy cow, you watch the news, you see more numbers. So we are in this together. And together this, we can’t actually get through this. We’ve got to work together, I think, and support each other and, and share our knowledge like we’re doing today.

Bambi McCullough:

But so what do you do if you want to create a new future? Well, from today’s ex exerciser from day’s webinar, I promise that you’ll see new perspectives, that results in you taking inspired action. So that’s my goal for today is that you’re going to see a new perspective, something that has you take new action. If our actions are, if it’s true, what I said that people’s actions are consistent with how the future looks. If the future looks different, I’ll I will take different action. You know, if the future looks scary, I’ll take different action. But the first thing that I think is critical is to identify where you are. So, so one of the things that we find that’s currently limiting, accomplishing our goals is being clear where we are. So we don’t always want to really pay attention. And when I started like he yeah, said I was a banker for 24 years.

Bambi McCullough:

Yeah. And when I started my business, I you know, we’ve been really successful as a banker had lots of relationships in Houston. I grew up Euston. So we started a business, we opened a training center. We thought people would just come, but they didn’t. So it was scary. In fact, one of the things that I invite you to take a moment right now and look at is what’s your current situation. If I think I’m in Houston, but I’m really in San Antonio and I want to get to Dallas. It’s a problem if we’re not in touch with our current situation. So I’m going to give you just a few seconds to think about how would you characterize your current situation? You know, is it, are you in a situation where you’re looking for a job search? Are you in a situation where you’re wondering about how do I keep my business growing?

Bambi McCullough:

I mean, that’s where I’m at. You know, my business about half of my business got postponed when this semester started, because my work is, is for the most part live. Now I’m grateful that, okay, you can do things like this via zoom and our other app applications. But but yeah, it’s still a little scary, but I’m clear where I’m at. I’m clear the clients I have. I know the number of clients I have, but I have to tell you the first time when I started my business, I didn’t, I, when we, when we, people didn’t come, people didn’t come. We thought they would just come. We had a beautiful office. They didn’t care. First of all, we weren’t telling them what we were doing. We didn’t realize it was a sales business, but I had a really hard time getting in touch with the current situation.

Bambi McCullough:

I didn’t want to look at the numbers because if I looked at the numbers, it would have told you we were failing. And, you know, as a banker having good credit and you know, you’re raised as a banker to have good credit, pay your bills on time. And when people were calling to say, well, where’s your rent? You know, and we had to look at clients that were paying six months. Some of the larger companies didn’t pay for six months. Why didn’t know that I’m a small business, I’m relying on that to pay my rent. But the moment I started paying attention to the current situation, something altered. So the first thing in identifying, how do I create a future? That’s inspiring in a challenging time like we have right now is to really tell the truth about your current situation, because whether you like it or not, it’s your current situation now for some people it’s exciting for some people, it’s a time to learn.

Bambi McCullough:

I’ve had more time with my grandchildren than ever. So there’s really good things about the current situation. And I suspect for all of us, there’s been some good things that have happened. And then there’s some really challenging things that we’re dealing with. But what, what is, you know, what is your current situation? I will tell you in my business now, my business is probably, Oh gosh, at least 10 times the size as it was then when we started. But I look at my numbers every month. I know where my members are. I know how my clients are doing. And that’s one of the things that I keep my eye on. So that I’m grounded in reality, not my worry of, you know, actually it’s typically not as bad as you think, or if you’ve ever wanted to go on a diet, but you don’t want to get on the scale because you don’t want to look at the current reality.

Bambi McCullough:

I know when I’m in that place of I’m not paying attention is what I don’t want to get on the scale. Because if I looked at the number, maybe it’d be upsetting, but the truth is the numbers of the number not getting on the scale, not looking at reality, doesn’t make us decide or not determined or not the current situation. It is what it is. So I invite you to really get, take take us time and really look and see what’s my current situation. Then the second piece we’ll look at well, Oh, I like this quote. I brought this clue for you. We’re all, we’re all faced with challenges. At some point in our life challenges that we did not create challenges that happened beyond our control. The difference is how we respond to these challenges. You can adopt the attitude. There is nothing you can do, or you can see the challenge as your call to action.

Bambi McCullough:

So today I invite you to see that whatever challenge you, there may be some you’ve covered them already, but then there are also maybe some that you haven’t, you need just haven’t quite wanted to look at. You know, I have, I had to look at my mix of business and how much my business was slanted in one direction or another, as long as things were going well, I didn’t have to look at that. Yeah. So I’d like for you to consider, what can you do if you, if you let me be your coach for a few minutes, which is where I spend a lot of my time, if you would actually look and see, am I relating to my situation that there’s nothing I can do about it. I’m just the victim of this circumstance. Or can I adopt an attitude that says, there’s something I can do here.

Bambi McCullough:

There are things that are reality. You know, there, Keith and I were talking about, there was some companies that had to lay people off. That’s reality. It’s a tough reality, but that’s the current situation? What can I do? So you know, I had this happen when I when my son was, I guess it was in high school when he was in high school, he was diagnosed with attention deficit disorder and I didn’t know anything about it. And I hadn’t really dealt with that before. And so we got him a counselor and we, the guy told us how to sit down and having to study. And, you know, he w 30 minutes at the table and they do 30 minutes. He could go do something else in 30 minutes of the table. And we did that for a while. And at some point it wasn’t working.

Bambi McCullough:

It wasn’t working. He that he would get a half of his grades would be failing. And by the time he was a junior, his counselor sent him a note and said, you’re in the 20 F the bottom 25% of your graduating class. And your career opportunities are McDonalds. Well, you know, as an, as an adult, unless you’re managing or owning, McDonald’s, you’re probably not going to survive, have a place to live, be able to buy a car. And so we sat down with him and said, your cancer told you that your career opportunities were McDonald’s. He said, yeah, well, after my mother’s perspective, I got mad, right? I was upset. So we took him externally and we got him tested and they said, this kid’s got a great IQ. We knew he was smart. We lived with him. He said, he’s an artist.

Bambi McCullough:

So what I decided is that I, that if I did what I would have typically done as a mom, which is cry through it, try to cheer him on it. Wasn’t going to turn out. But in the work that we do with our clients, we have a distinction and we have a model called being caused in the matter. And so I remembered the day I sat there and said, if this is going to turn out, I’m going to have to have something happen. So I started asking people, what do you do with an artist? And one of the guys said there was another coach that I’d worked with before. He said, send him to Italy. It’s in Italy. He said, yeah, send him to Italy. He needs to go to Italy because that’s where artists are and you’ll be inspired. And so I went and asked my son, I said, do you want to go to Italy?

Bambi McCullough:

And he goes, Italy. I mean, we weren’t talking about Italy at our house, but I decided I made a choice that I w that I was going to cause something to happen. I had a brilliant artist and it wasn’t going to go the trajectory it was going. So we, we studied, we found a school in Florence, Italy, and we took him. We actually took him over there for a couple of weeks as a family first. And then we left him and it was the hardest thing I ever did was to leave a 16 year old child. He was a child from my perspective, you know, that far away. And he didn’t speak Italian, but I’ll tell you, the second night we were home, he called me. And he said, these kids are just like me. And he created a port for stay there. The whole summer was fabulous for him, created a portfolio.

Bambi McCullough:

When he got back, he didn’t want to apply for college because the counselor had already told him he couldn’t get in. He couldn’t do anything, but McDonald’s so we told him, said, no, we’re going to apply. So we applied and discovered the schools where he had decided that he was a sculptor. And the truth was he’d been, he’d been building robots and taking fans apart his whole life. So we said, that makes sense. We’ve seen this kid, you know, not only paid, but also build things. And so he said, well, I want to do that. So we, Kansas city art Institute is a college is a four years art college that will that studies sculpting. So he applies. He gets the letter. He doesn’t think he got in because he’s so clear already. Then he, his perspective was, there’s no way, well, my only didn’t get any, he got a scholarship.

Bambi McCullough:

So he wants to Kansas city. He gets four years scholarship, not, not full scholarship, but he got a scholarship four years. He made almost straight. A’s built some beautiful artwork. The city of Kansas city has some of his artwork in this, in the city. Then he got a full to the university of Delaware. And today he actually, years here, here’s Benjamin. And he actually does architectural steel. So he’s created a business where he’s using his skills and it’s unbelief. You can see, this is a happy man. This is my grandson. It’s not his, but my, his sister’s children, but he is actually creating some amazing work. Now it wasn’t going to go that way. If I’d have just taken, Oh, well, the school knows better. And they they’re telling me all he can do is if I’d have been the victim of the circumstances, I wouldn’t have done what I did, but I remember the moment I said, I’m going to be caused in the matter we call it being caused in the matter, choosing to say, I’m causing the matter, what happens now, it’s not the truth that you’re causing the matter, what happens, but in the circumstances like we’re dealing with, where could you say I’m calling?

Bambi McCullough:

Cause in the matter of what happens, we can certainly say, times are tough. But when you say times are tough, you’re creating a future within which you live. And you actually can alter that. I had a client the other day that said, you can’t, you can’t find engineers right now. You can’t find him. And I said, well, how many you need? He said, I need eight. Luckily their business is really good. And I said, what do you mean I could now I haven’t caused you to call Marie. But I said, look, I can go find engineers. Why? Because I said so, so I told him, I said, you either go find, will you, will you play this game with me? We either go find eight inch written, not just eight engineers, but eight grade engineers or that are, pay me to do it. Or five.

Bambi McCullough:

How many find somebody that can do it for you? He said, okay, because listen, as long as you decide, you can’t find engineers. You don’t take action consistent with finding engineers and having a future. That’s unrecognizable requires taking action. That’s new. So you’re not going to believe what happened. The next time I met with him, he said, Bambi, you’re not gonna believe this. I said what? He goes, guess what? I said, what? He goes, I hired eight. Great engineers said you did. He goes, yeah, I actually got a nine for somebody else in whatever other divisions. Now I want you to consider. Now this is the work I’ve done for 20 years. So this isn’t wishful thinking this isn’t a hope it’ll happen. But if you start to look at, you know, what would it take to get a job? Some of your job seekers, right? Where have you decided you can’t who’ll have you decided you can’t call. But if you took on saying, I’m calling, I’m going to be causing the matter of getting a crate career. Now it may not be your career forever. It could be that your industry’s down. And we have to tell the truth about it, but look, to see where, where are you being the victim of the circumstance.

Bambi McCullough:

Now, I want to let that land a minute. Where are you being the victim of the circumstance? Because any place where we say I have no control, I’m being the victim. And again, I’m not saying that there’s not reality of challenging things out there. We are all dealing with it, every single one of us, but there are places where we can take action. There are places where you can take action. And in the case of being causing the matter, you’ll see on this thought, it says, this is not for credit. So I’m not going around beating my chest and say, I had a turnout for my son. I’m also not saying if he didn’t turn out that I was supplying because the truth is I didn’t do the college classes. I didn’t go make sure he went to class. He did. But what I, what I looked at was said, we’re not going to have the trajectory that’s going to go there.

Bambi McCullough:

So how do I get him inspired? Which, you know, sending him to Italy was a, a great opportunity that we were able to afford. And and I would say it changed the trajectory of his future. And he would tell you that. So we’re either going to have the future that shows up, we call it the default future. Are we going to create a future? So I want you to start to think about if you could create your future, what would that look like? Because the default future is the one that just shows up. You wake up in the morning and you have the thoughts that you have, you wake up in the morning and you’re like, Oh man, another day, and you turn the television on, you see the numbers go up and the financial numbers go down and you look in your inbox and you’re not getting a response from somebody.

Bambi McCullough:

You wanted to get a response from about a job or about an opportunity, or, you know, something happens or you get the notes that you don’t know what’s going to happen with the schools. And how am I going to work with my kids? You know, we’re all dealing with that. And that, that those kinds of conversations can limit our thinking that we can do anything different, but I’d like you to consider. You actually do have an option. There are places if you look in your life and they’re all different where you can say, I’m going to be causing the matter, you know, I’m, I’m getting a studio set upstairs. I’m in my living room right now, my dining room, but I I’m going to have to be able to deliver via zoom. And I resisted it for a long time, but I’ve got workshops that I need to deliver.

Bambi McCullough:

And some of them, I just was at the Stony in the last two days, I actually didn’t deliver a leadership workshop in like the last few days, but we had a huge room. We were spread out and everybody agreed to it. We gave him the option for zoom, but there are some things where you have 50 or a hundred people. I can’t do that live. So I’m having, I’ve got a painter come in next week and I’ve resisted it. I’ve resisted it, but I’m going to be ready. And I’ve watched 200 videos on how you do zoom. I’m still not great at it. So I appreciate your grace today, but I will tell you that, you know, I’ve had to recognize I can’t do business the way I’ve always done it. And if I don’t start to look at what can I do differently? Can I do differently than I I’m going to be stuck in the place that I am?

Bambi McCullough:

So one of the places I like to look at the future is I know you all are probably aware. It’s a been a cult classic book, Jim Collins, good to great Jim Collins, as you know, you may know, he studied companies for about five years and he looked at the companies that were great. And those that just died at great. I mean, I’m sorry that we’re good. And that just stayed at good, but what was few companies that actually became great. And he was trying to identify how, what are the differences between the companies that were good and the companies for great, you can say same, same thing about our lives. I mean that you’re on this call. You don’t have a bad life. I mean, and if you’re in the United States, you have a pretty great life for the most part, right? Compared to the rest of the world, we have running water.

Bambi McCullough:

You know, we have a roof over our head. We may be having to stay with somebody right now, but we still, we still have a lot of things that a lot of people in the world don’t have. But if we’re going to create a future, why don’t we create a great future because it’s going to be of your design. So good is the enemy of great. And that’s the key reason why we have so little, that becomes great because when it becomes good, it’s like, it’s good. It’s good enough. Yeah. So here’s some S some ways to distinguish between. Good and great. Good. And I want you to think about that as you’re thinking about your future, good as doing what you know you can do. Now, there’s things you know, that, you know, you can do, it may not be what I can do, but there’s things, you know, you can do.

Bambi McCullough:

There’s, there’s also self-imposed boundaries. Anytime you say, I can’t do that. You have limited the possible, have you ever taken that on doing the same as we just, we did before you did that, it was okay. Turned down. Let’s just do it again. Good. Isn’t enough. There’s only so much that can be accomplished. Possibility is limited when you’re just saying good’s enough, you don’t get to be extraordinary and you never know yourself as well, bigger than what you know how to do. Now let’s talk about great, great. It’s doing what you don’t know that you can and saying yes to something that’s scary. It’s making a phone call to ask somebody, do they know somebody that can connect you to this organization? It’s asking somebody to be your mentor. I think I have a young lady on this call today that that was introduced to me.

Bambi McCullough:

She’s in college. She’s interested in this coaching and development realm. And she, last time I called and talked to her. She said, would you be my mentor? Now? I know that wasn’t easy, but she’s taking on something that she hasn’t done before. And I, you know, we talked about that, what that would look like and what our expectations were. And I said, yes, but I told her, I also heard one day the, one of the governors of the, of Texas Ann Richards years ago, I got to hear her speak. And she said the same thing. She said, somebody called her and said, would you be my mentor? And she said, yes. And she said, I asked the girl what it meant. And she said, every call every quarter and sure, sure enough. She said, I can do a call every quarter. So there are things that you could do.

Bambi McCullough:

I’d like you to take a moment and on actually give you a minute. I’m going to time you so that you have a minute, but could, is there something that you could ask some help you could ask for? Listen, these are the times to ask for help from each other. Who could you call and say, I need your help with this, or who could you introduce me over here? Or are this is a client I’d like to go after, but I’d really like to look and see. Is there something that would be a stretch for you that you actually could take on now? We haven’t created your future yet. We’re going to, but we’re going to talk about your future, but I’d like for you to take a moment while we’re in this conversation, and I’m going to give you a minute, I’m going to actually be quiet. I’m going to give you a minute. You’re welcome to put it in the chat or you’re welcome just to write it on a piece of paper, but what are, what’s something action you could take. That’s beyond where you’ve been taking them beyond what you’ve been doing by the way. Cause that’s where greatness lies.

Bambi McCullough:

I’m going to be quiet for a minute and let you write some things down and you’re welcome again. If you wanted to put them in the chat,

Keith Wolf:

[Inaudible]

Bambi McCullough:

Okay. I hope that gave you a minute to, to write some things down. All right. So let’s talk a little bit more about great. Okay. Let’s see. Well, let me see what y’all wrote. Let me see a few things. Let’s see. We want to see what people said. Let’s see you look fabulous. Miss you. Thank you, Stella. I I’ve been thinking about somebody meant asking somebody to mentor. I hope you do that. How can I improve my effective communication skills? Yeah. I could start a school. Ruth. I love that. Oh, I’m inspired relocating to another city without a job you could. And you could actually see if you can create some relationships before you get to that city. Ask your friends who knows people in that city. Right? I can contact law firms to see if they’re willing to give me a chance to work with them. What? Going perfect. Perfect. Oh, I got chills. Y’all are doing great. Really great work. Yeah. So it’s starting to think I’m the unthinkable. What could I take on? Listen, what’s the worst thing people can say is now, are you going to die? If somebody says no,

Keith Wolf:

No.

Bambi McCullough:

So creating something that hasn’t been created for before requires you to take action that you haven’t taken before. All right. Let’s keep going.

Bambi McCullough:

I didn’t get this thing to go. Okay. Obviously Martin Luther, King’s a great, I great example of taking, creating a future that hadn’t been created before. You know, he created this. It was, I have a dream. I have a dream I’m inspired just by her saying that. I mean, he had a dream and he impacted the world. Now, I’m not saying you gotta take on impact in the world, but you could. There’s nothing wrong with it. You’ve got to look at your circumstance. Nobody can tell you what you should take on, but if you stop and you listen, you’ll hear it. I find that we have those voices that you know, that we, that we have a sense of knowing I call it the desires of your heart. You know, if you could really do what you wanted to do, what would that look like?

Bambi McCullough:

And it may be steps. You may not be able to do it today. I may have to take some steps in between. I might have to take a job. I don’t love for a little while, while I get trained in that, or I may have to take a job where I’m doing something, not exactly what I want to do, but creating the pathway so that you know where you’re headed. You know, I think sometimes people talk to me and they go, well, you know, I have to know exactly what I’m going to do. Listen, I I’m on my fourth chapter, I’m on my fourth chapter. I taught high school right out of college. I was a coach. Then I was a banker. And then I became an entrepreneur, which I’m really proud that I made that leap. It’s very different. Right? I learned a lot about when I was a banker.

Bambi McCullough:

I didn’t understand by the way, entrepreneurs, because it’s scary. And you know, and now I’ve done speaking. I have done coaching and I’m a grandma. So, you know, I got grandma on the list. So you, your chapters might not be an exact trajectory to where you want to get. The thing that I’m encouraging you to do is to create something, do something new. Are you going to be stuck where you started be clear so far, we’ve said be clear where you’re at. Look to see what you want to take on and see if you’re willing to say I’m going to cause that to turn out because I say so, because that will alter your now what gets in the way. I don’t know if you know who this is, but this is Kendra Scott. Is she not fabulous? Well, one of the things that gets in our way is comparison.

Bambi McCullough:

And a few years ago, I got invited to speak at the governor’s conference and I was excited. I invited table my girlfriends business clients, and we were excited and I did not look to see who else was speaking. And the person right before me, the six, two year old grandma was Kender Scott, is she not fabulous? Not only is she gorgeous, her speech was fabulous. I mean, I even cried. And she’s a billionaire. She’s a Jew. For those of you don’t know her, the things on her ears, that’s, that’s her earrings. So she’s she’s a billionaire and she’s beautiful and I’m having to speak after her. So I go to the green room in the back. She’s got her body there’s me in my grandma’s shoes and there’s Kendra and her bodyguard. And I’m sitting there having this conversation with myself saying, how did I get here?

Bambi McCullough:

How did I get here? How do I follow that? Because I’m comparing myself to a 40 something year old, gorgeous millionaire. Well, the truth is I’m not Kendra and neither are you. I don’t even want to be Kendra. I’ve got a PR. I’m happy with my life, but we compare ourselves and I’ll tell you what I had to really deal with myself. I started praying. I’m like, okay, God, I know you got me here for a reason. You know? And I just, I just decided I’m just going to go be Bambi because I can’t go be Kendra. And you know, we see people’s lives and we compare ourselves to their lives. Listen, you have the life you’re supposed to have. Just like with the thumbprint that you have, that’s unique. You’re not supposed to have my life or Kendra’s life or Keith’s life or anybody else, life you’re looking at. So when we start to create a future, we often get confused about what it needs to look like, because we’re comparing now, listen, there’s nothing against Kendra Scott. I love beautiful women. I love successful people. There’s nothing wrong with that. But there’s when I think I should be that. And now I’m limited in my actions. Like, because I, because I’ve see the gap,

Keith Wolf:

Okay.

Bambi McCullough:

It doesn’t work. It doesn’t work. So stop comparing yourself. My coaching would be is when you come and we as human beings, we’re going to compare it’s on TV all day long. And by the way, in Facebook, right? And LinkedIn and Instagram, I mean the pictures, people post are going to be the best ones and mostly they’re going to be fixed. Right? I don’t, I don’t put post my picture without makeup on, But that’s not reality. And we’re talking about creating a life that’s inspiring to you. So when you start comparing yourself to other people, I’d like you to stop it. I’d like you just to tell yourself to stop it. Yeah. You’re not going to be like them. And if you really analyzed it, you probably don’t want to be like them.

Keith Wolf:

[Inaudible]

Bambi McCullough:

Think about it. So what gets in their way of creating our future, looking of ourselves, comparing ourselves to others, ideals from the past, you know, there’s something that I’ve said your life should look this way and you’re trying to have that happen, but that might not happen. We may just have to say, grow up Bambi. That’s not going to happen. But there is, I can stay in where I am right now and say, what do I want? You know, I don’t know how many clients have said I couldn’t do this. Cause my parents told me I couldn’t and they’re 50 years old. It’s like, how long have your, you know, how long have you been an adult? Now? We all do that. So I don’t want to see you here if you’ve done that, because I’ve done all this stuff. Cause we’re human, but you have the capacity just like you do to compare yourself, just to have your ideals from the past, not listening to what we want.

Bambi McCullough:

Have you ever had somebody say, you know, I, I wanted a retreat center in the Hill country. So when I first started this consulting business, my business partner, who was a banker that I’d worked with for many years I said to him, I want a retreat center in the Hill country. And he’d say, why do you want that? I don’t know. I just want that. He goes, well, can’t we just rent a place. And you know, he went to rice, he was the president of the bank or the overall bank. And so where my brain went well, he’s smarter than me. It must be a bad idea. Do you ever say that to yourself? Have you had a brilliant idea, maybe something innovative that can get created during this time that could serve people in the future. But somebody said, that’s a stupid idea.

Bambi McCullough:

And then we go, Oh yeah, I guess it is. And it’s we stop ourselves. We stop ourselves. So I want you to start to notice. The second thing I want you to start to do besides stop comparing yourself is stop listening. When other people say it’s a bad idea and just dismiss it. Yeah. That’s not a bad thing to say. Tell me why it’s a bad idea. Tell me why you think that’s, you know, what, what am I overlooking? Where’s my blind spot. Right? But just to dismiss it, like I catch myself. I’m I’m telling on myself, I just dismiss it because I’ve decided if I’ve decided whoever the person is smarter than me, I just, and just the idea, stop it. It will get in the way of you creating your future. And we’re talking about creating your future. So why don’t, why don’t we, why don’t we talk about in terms of creating, I’m suggesting a new way to think about the future.

Bambi McCullough:

We don’t normally think about the future from the future because we are standing right here. I’m in the middle of whatever circumstance I’m in. You know, with kids that I can’t get, the school are with a parent that I’m worried about or somebody’s sick or can’t go out because I’ve got an immune system issue. And so I really gotta make sure I stay home. We all have different circumstances, but when we’d go to create the future, one of the things that we do in our work that’s transformational is that we train people to create the future from the future. Why? Because when we stand where we are to it, which is where most people do strategy. By the way, we do this with business strategists, the same, same thing happens in business. We stay in where we are and we look forward. And one of the things we don’t realize is that all those things retried before gifts limits us.

Bambi McCullough:

You can’t do that. Remember what happened in the eighties? Or remember what happened when we tried that we had to lay some people off or you remember what happened when you feel on the blank? You know, I made a call and somebody wasn’t nice to me. So Bambi, you’re telling me to make a phone call and ask for help. Last time I did that, it was a disaster. Yeah. That becomes something you don’t want to have happen again. And so you stopped taking action. So when we create the future from our current circumstances, from where, no matter if it’s pandemic or whether it’s just a regular day in August, we are limited by our past because our brain wants us to be successful. And if it had a bad experience in the past, the brain will tell you, you don’t even think it, you don’t sit down and go, okay, I’m going to think don’t do this and don’t do this.

Bambi McCullough:

And don’t do that. No, you don’t do that. It’s your brain. Your brain says don’t do that. So if you create a future from here forward, you’re limiting, what’s possible because of all the stuff that’s happened in the past, all the decisions you made and some of those decisions you made a really long time ago, I had a guy one time, he wanted to be a doctor. I was coaching him. He said, you know, maybe if I really could do what I want to be a doctor, I was like, well, why not? He was maybe thirties. So you could still go back to school. He goes, Oh, no, I can’t do that. I said, well, why not? He said, because I’m clumsy, you’re clumsy. He walked in, you know, nice, tall, good shape, man. I’m like, what do you mean? You’re clumsy. He goes, yeah, I’m clumsy.

Bambi McCullough:

I said, well, who told you? You’re clumsy? Well, when I was in the 10th grade, I grew, or maybe it was, I think it was some school time in school, maybe 10th grade. It doesn’t matter. He said, I grew two feet. He said I grew really, really fast and I was clumsy. And so my parents told me, you can’t be a doctor. You’re clumsy. Yeah. You won’t be clumsy if you’re going that much in a period of time. And maybe it wasn’t two feet, that might be a little, I may be exaggerating. That’s one of my things. So I said, well, it’s why don’t we do this. There are people that do testing of your fine motor movement. Let’s see if we can go get you tested. And let’s just see if you don’t have the capacity to be a so sure not.

Bambi McCullough:

If he goes and gets tested, nothing wrong with the man, he went back and he created, he created a future of being a surgeon. And today he’s a surgeon actually teaches it because somebody told him a long time ago, you can’t do that. He carried that with him the whole time. And we don’t realize we do that. So you have things that you’ve said that I can’t do that. Aren’t true. How do I know? I listen to people all day long that are brilliant. And they’ll say, well, I can’t do that. It’s like, really? I don’t see any reason you can’t, but until we start to question it, so how do we create a future? That’s not limited by the past. Well, it’s it takes you standing in the future. So imagine I’m a, you see my wand there and she liked my wand. I’m a fairy godmother, and I can go poof.

Bambi McCullough:

And it’s August the 13th, 2021. And it was an amazing year. You’re standing there. You’re there. Now. You don’t look any older. You haven’t gained any pounds. Maybe lost some weight, but you’re standing in August the 13th, 2021. And it was an extraordinary year. What does it look like? What would be happening? What would you be saying? So I’m going to give you two minutes this time. She’s going to probably feel like forever for me, but I’m going to give you two minutes. Cause I’d like you to, while we’re in this thinking to actually start to look at what, listen, just write down what it shows up. Don’t edit yourself. You’re just writing it on paper. There’s no obligation to do anything. There’s no cost. What would it look like in 2021? If we’re standing there now and you’re like, I cannot believe I had such an extraordinary year. What would it look like? What would you be saying? Like put yourself there now. And I’m going to be quiet for two minutes and I’m going to let you write a, I encourage you to write. And so that you don’t so that, you know, while you’re in this conversation, you take advantage. Okay. Two minutes starts now.

Bambi McCullough:

Let me get the chat. Oops. Here’s the questions. There you go. Oops. [inaudible] Yeah, go ahead and put it. We got some good ones in the chat. Go ahead and add your things to chat.

Keith Wolf:

[Inaudible]

Bambi McCullough:

Okay. There’s our time. Okay. Let me stop this. There we go.

Bambi McCullough:

Yeah. So let’s look at what some people said. This might inspire you. I’m inspired. I don’t know about you in a different, different position. I wanted all along. I sold my story. Ooh, Lisa, get the recognition of being the best Tomcat subcontractor in my trade. Awesome. Lilium. Get recognized. Let’s see leadership role in a health system with completion of all my new certifications and credentials. Love it. Mary found my dream job and I’m hitting the ball out of the park. Y’all are so inspiring. Let’s see what else people are saying. Very nice. Very nice. We got happy delivered a solution to a pain point in an organization, an organization, a project that led to implementation. Excellent. Excellent. Very nice. Yeah. Dream job. Hitting it out of the park. Very nice. Yeah. So exactly. You’re, you’re exactly in the conversation that we’re having. Yeah. Right in my book.

Bambi McCullough:

I hope you do feel I, you got your book done. Yeah. We’ve relocated and we’ve sold her house. I’m a business owner. I’m an entrepreneur was storefront shop with product or services or entertainment for families. I feel that finished building my HR department from the ground up. Awesome summer, really great stuff. Really great stuff. Pass my real estate examine and working in that industry. I’m in France on a one number Kathy on a one month vacation. I’m coming with you, Kathy. Just let me really great. No masks. Yes, no. Ma’am yeah. Very good. Completed my second book and published it. Oh, very, very good. Yes, exactly. So standing in the future, w what does it look like to a fulfilled on an awesome year? Keep creed creating that. And one of the things that’s really important here is to write it like it’s happened already.

Bambi McCullough:

In fact, one of the assignments I’m going to suggest for you is that you write a letter. You write, you can write it to me. You can write it to somebody that says it’s August 13, 20, 21. And it was an awesome year. I was really moved by the whole idea. You guys are, you guys are inspiring, inspiring me. It was an awesome year. And actually the more you can write what it would look like, the more your brain is going to want to take action. Now, I want you to hear this, write it like it’s already happened and write details. What does it look like? What does that shop look like? What does that book look like? Who’s standing in line to get your autograph. Where are you speaking? Right? What’s the dream job you found. And what contribution are you able to make to your companies?

Bambi McCullough:

The more I give people letter writing exercise, and it says it’s a year from now. It’s very simple. They’re Bambi. It was a year from now. It was an extraordinary year. This is what happened. That’s how you create a future from the future. The last piece, I would say here’s some more I’m executive rank. I’ve had my website launch with more product categories. I CF certified with my own clients. Very good. I established a school for life to help people get to the next level spiritually, mentally, and earth. I’m going to hold you. I know Ruth. I’m gonna hold you accountable for that one. Awesome, awesome. Really great job. So that’s what it looks like. So my challenge to you is to write a letter and then start to look at what’s something I need to do today. So if I look from the future backwards, so we actually do something called the Merlin, which we don’t have time for today, but it’s actually starting from the future and planning backwards.

Bambi McCullough:

But what could you, what action could you take next week, next month, that would actually put you in action towards this future and determine what it is. I’d like you to pick something right now, even if it’s figuring it out, like I’ve got to investigate. Titles are at the, for a book or I have to brainstorm with a group of people are whatever it is. Let me see if you can identify something that you would need to do to take action, because dreaming about it. First of all, if you write the letter, it will make a difference. I promise you. But also what it, what it’s going to take is taking action. So yeah, we can help you. There’s people helping each other. Yup. Very good. So let me see, get my slides to go. So we said that standing in the future and looking backwards, what actions can you take to move you in that direction? That’s your next assignment? What actions can you take? What actions will you take?

Bambi McCullough:

Not something you just talk about. Like we, you know, for a long time, I’d tell my assistant. We need to get going on our website, but she doesn’t do websites where she doesn’t update websites. I talked about that for five years. Don’t be this something you’re going to talk about for five years, pick something and take action. Even if it’s calling to share with a friend about it, do something. So the last thing I would say, as we’ve got just a few minutes left is you’ve got this. You have this, you can be causing the matter of creating a future that inspires you. You have inspired me by your notes. I can’t even talk about it. Cause I get moved. You’re extraordinary people don’t let anybody tell you anything different you were made for what you’re here for. Just like your thumbprint. There’s nobody like you stop comparing yourself. Stop saying, I can’t do that. There are things actions you can take. You know, I’m not gonna run a marathon. I that’s clear I’m not doing that, but there are things I can do. So with that, Keith, I’m gonna, I’m gonna let you take control and just thank you for the opportunity. And I, I really like you to say this to yourself. Whenever you get stuck, you’ve got this, you’ve got this.

Keith Wolf:

Great. Thank you so much, baby. We do have a couple of questions that came through that I thought were pretty interesting. One person was asking you about your background and how you made the transition from teacher to banking. If you didn’t have experience in the banking industry. So

Bambi McCullough:

That’s a great question. Well I, you know, it was, it, it was just an accident. It was an accident. I was a high school math teacher. So I did have a degree in mathematics, but I got hired at my aunt’s house. So she was complaining about needing a person. And when I got married, I moved back to Houston and she said, I’ll pay you daily. And I opened checking accounts. So I started, you know, in a very, I think they call them personal bank. I don’t know what they call them today. They have D thing it’s very different now. And I I’ve done every job there is to do in a bank now because I’m a learner. So, you know, I ended up running one of our banks, I built this you know over in the Northwest part of Houston, I got to help build the building that they bought the land of the building that was there. And my last job was on the leadership team, taking care of culture and people. And that’s how I got into coaching. So the bank was using a methodology that I have a license to now that’s that works. It just works. So, yeah.

Keith Wolf:

Somebody else was asking and I think a lot of people mentioned starting businesses as a, as a goal. So this might be relevant to more folks than just her, but Erica was asking she’s in oil and gas. She wants to start her own business, but she’s afraid she doesn’t know where to start or what kind of business, anything that you would suggest.

Bambi McCullough:

Yeah. it’s scary. It is scary man and entrepreneur, for sure. But it’s sports. I’m so glad I did it. I felt, I feel called to do what I’m doing. So I did. So I would do this for free if I could. And I’m just really blessed. So I think it’s gotta be something you’re passionate about it. Cause when times get tough and they do get tough at the beginning. What do I mean by tough is just, you know, depends on the business. It doesn’t have to be tough. My son’s business businesses the first year he is these being really successful. So that may not be true. I didn’t know how to sell what I do. It’s very intangible. And so we didn’t know what we were up to. We thought it was going to be different, but I was definitely say do your research find something you’re passionate about? And don’t invest. We we’ve opened offices before we even opened. And that was not a smart idea. I wouldn’t do that again. I wouldn’t, I wouldn’t rent space unless I’m doing a store, but I would, I would take it step so that you, I would take baby steps, but it takes persistence. I had two of the partners are gone, but I didn’t give up because I’m supposed to do this.

Bambi McCullough:

Yeah.

Keith Wolf:

Well, we were just about up against it. Just a thank you band. We think everybody who attended again, if you’ve missed any, you want to go back and see the other webinars you can do. So et cetera, Marie resources.com for slash events, continue sharing with friends and colleagues. And our contact info is up here and we’re also going to send out baby’s information as well, so that everybody has her email. I can get in touch with her and we’ll send the slides to everybody who attended. So really nice comments coming in about you Bambi. I know everybody enjoyed it. So thank you so much.

Bambi McCullough:

Thank you for the opportunity. Thank you guys. Go, go get it.

Keith Wolf:

Alright, perfect until next time. Thank you. Bye bye. Bye.