This wise information comes from Barbara Atkins, author of “70 is the new 40″. (I for one am happy to know that I will have a chance to be 40 again.) Baby boomers are a significant part of the US population and coaches like us are finding fulfillment working with this generation:

This increasing median age is driven by the aging of the population born during the Baby Boom after World War II (1946 to 1964). About 30 percent of the population in 1994 were born during the Baby Boom. As this population ages, the median age will rise. People born during the Baby Boom will be between 36 and 54 years old at the turn of the century. In 2011, the first members of the Baby Boom (reached) age 65, and the Baby Boom will have decreased to 25 percent of the total population. Source; Census Bureau

Three Dog Night

Not all of them are rock and rollers having reunions. Many are finding new career paths and starting their own businesses. If this sounds like something for you, Barbara is having an event in AZ. It’s called appropriately enough: What’s Next For You? Discover what matters and do what you love! It will be on Wednesday, June 27 at 1:30 pm – for individuals that are already retired and at 6:30 pm – for individuals approaching retirement. It will be held at the City of Scottsdale Civic Center Library. 3839 N. Drinkwater Blvd., Scottsdale, AZ,  For info call 480.312.READ (7323). Before you attend Barbara’s event, visit the beautiful grounds and fountains of the Scottsdale City Hall. Visit the art galleries and other attractions. Walk slowly, enjoy the view.

Honorees Dr. Michele Y. Halyard, Sharon Lechter, Pamela Lam, Pastor Sheriolyn Curry Lasley, Jane Spicer and Bettie Spruill CMEC

“We all have the capacity to be positively powerful. The magnitude of the contributions of this year’s award recipients is truly amazing. They, along with each of our previous 16 Award Recipients, prove that everyone has the opportunity to make dreams a reality.” Author and renowned international trainer, speaker and coach Dr. Joel Martin, creator of the Annual Positively Powerful Woman Awards program.

This year’s Fifth Annual Positively Powerful Woman Awards will be presented to the honorees at the Phoenix Ritz-Carlton on June 22, 2012. Gala luncheon from 11:30AM to 2PM to continue with the Conversation On Leadership Summit (COL) from 2:30PM to 6PM. The program will include an intimate panel with the Award Recipients, speakers and transformational action learning focused on enhancing personal, professional and business development. The public is invited to attend. Additional information about the fifth annual celebration follows.

Dr. Michele Y. Halyard, The 2012 Positively Powerful Woman Award For Global Leadership.  Dr Michele Halyard is a consultant in the Department of Radiation Oncology at Mayo Clinic in Arizona and an Associate Professor of Radiation Oncology. Her clinical areas of interest include the treatment of breast cancer and head and neck cancer patients. Her research interests involve the treatment of breast cancer with radiation therapy including interactions with systemic therapies, quality of life of in oncology patients and cancer symptom control. Administratively, Dr Halyard has played a variety of administrative roles within Mayo Clinic. She is a past Chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology in Arizona. She served 8 years on the Board of Governors of Mayo Clinic in Arizona, including serving as Vice Chair. She also served 8 years as a member of the Mayo Clinic Executive Committee and Board of Trustees. She serves as the Links, Incorporated Health and Human Services Facet Chair, Western Area. She is a co-founder of the Coalition of Blacks Against Breast Cancer.

Sharon Lechter, The 2012 Positively Powerful Woman Award For Philanthropic Leadership. Sharon Lechter gives back to world communities as both a volunteer and benefactor. She is the founder of Pay Your Family First, a financial education organization and YOUTHpreneur, which sparks the entrepreneurial spirit in children.  Dedicating her life’s work to financial literacy, Ms. Lechter has authored Think and Grow Rich – Three Feet From Gold in cooperation with the Napoleon Hill Foundation, updated Outwitting the Devil by Napoleon Hill-a manuscript hidden for over 70 years and is known world-wide as the co-author of the international best-selling book Rich Dad, Poor Dad and the Rich Dad series of books. Sharon has served on the Dean’s Council 100 of the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University and as a member of the advisory Board of the Spirit of Enterprise at the W.P. Carey School of Business. She serves on the national board of the Women Presidents’ Organization and on the national board of Childhelp, a national organization founded to prevent and treat child abuse. Sharon helps shape the state of financial literacy in our nation through her appointment to the President’s Advisory Council on Financial Literacy.

Pamela Lam, The 2012 Positively Powerful Woman Award For Corporate Leadership.

Pamela Lam is the vice president of Research and Development for Henkel Laundry and Home Care in North American, reporting directly to the president of Henkel. Ms. Lam has numerous patents and a track record in delivering innovations. Her experience crosses all disciplines within R&D including an overseas assignment in China. She is a founding advisory member of the Asian American Professional Association at Henkel, an active member serving on the Scottsdale Workforce Development and an advocate for young talent development. She has personally, formally and informally, mentored dozens of young professionals. Ms. Lam holds an MS degree in Chemistry from Steven Institute of Technology. She received her Supply Chain Professional Certification at ASU in 2010. Pam was born in Vietnam and has had the pleasure of living in five cities and four countries so far. She is also a Corporate Advisory Council member of the Phoenix Chapter of the National Association of Asian America Professionals (NAAAP).

Jane Spicer, The 2012 Positively Powerful Woman Award For Entrepreneurial Leadership. Jane is the Owner and President of Daphne’s Head Covers, a family-owned, labor of love that manufactures just about every sort of animal head cover that can be imagined for golf clubs. Jane has offices located in Phoenix and internationally. In growing her business to the global status it has become, she had two goals: One was to remain solvent. The other one was, as her mother always said, “We must do good while we’re doing well.” That was hugely important to her. In that regard, Jane has created a fund raising head cover for Gabriel’s Angels an organization that delivers healing pet therapy to at-risk children. Jane’s entrepreneurial ambitions were awakened when she was a pre-teen and wanted a sailboat. Her mother said if she wanted one, she had to think of a business and make her own money. So she started making and selling toys and those morphed into puppets and ultimately to Daphne’s Head Covers, the firm named for her mother. Today approximately 200 PGA men and women have Daphne’s Head Covers. And, yes, Jane got the sailboat.

Pastor Sheriolyn Curry Lasley, The 2012 Positively Powerful Woman Award For Spiritual Leadership. Reverend Curry Lasley is the founding pastor of Mt. Moriah A.M.E. Church in Maricopa, AZ. Mt. Moriah was voted into the Desert Mountain Annual Conference in August 2007 and will celebrate 5 years of serving the community on October, 14, 2012. Reverend Curry Lasley is an Itinerant Elder and has earned a Masters of Divinity from Fuller Theological Seminary. She is also the founder of several businesses, which spiritually align with her ministry. They include Comfort Keepers, which for the last ten years has provided home care services for the elderly and Covenant Family Services, a behavioral health agency that hires and trains caregivers who provide services to seniors so that they may safely stay in their homes. Previously Reverend Currey Lasley was Senior Adult Minister for Tanner Chapel A.M.E. Church and fulfilled many leadership roles at this historical church including Director of Young People and Children’s Division (YPD) and Youth Minister.

Bettie Spruill, CMEC, The 2012 Positively Powerful Woman Award For Educational Leadership. Bettie Spruill, CMEC. is an international coach, management consultant, entrepreneur, public speaker and writer with 30 years’ experience in the field of transformational technology, and sacred commerce. She is also a certified Master NLP practitioner and member of the Transformational Leadership Council. Her retreat, The Feminine Face of Leadership, Power and Sex is an innovative approach to dynamic living. Her company, Ideal Coaching certifies coaches both here in the USA and Mexico. Bettie has led experiential effectiveness seminars and workshops in leadership, purpose and vision, and high performance for more than 20,000 people in Russia, Malaysia, Puerto Rico, Argentina, Chili, Mexico, England, Hong Kong, Canada, Ghana and the U.S. as well as multi-national and American companies and educational institutions. In 2000, Bettie adopted the village of Begora, Ghana. Since then, she has raised thousands of dollars to bring the people of Begoro coaching and training and helped develop vision, leadership, strategies and practices of sustainability. Her mentoring and coaching work with women in prison is having a positive impact on the lives of families and communities. Previously Bettie was Senior Vice President for Lifespring, Inc., one of the largest training and seminar companies in the world. Bettie is a student of the practices of Buddhism, deep ecology and global harmony, Universal Law, Egyptian and Christian mysticism.

2012 Positively Powerful Nonprofit Organization: Diana Gregory Outreach Services.  

This year, donations gathered at the 2012 Awards will be earmarked for Diana Gregory Outreach Services, a non-profit organization that provides programs in health, nutrition, education and housing. Every donation will go towards providing senior citizens with bags filled with free fresh produce (fruits and vegetables). These bags will be hand delivered to their facility/home by Gregory’s Fresh Market Place (GFMP) after the Awards.

Event Information: The public is invited to attend this year’s Fifth Annual Positively Powerful Woman Awards at the Phoenix Ritz-Carlton on June 22, 2012. Gala luncheon from 11:30AM to 2PM. It will continue with the Conversation On Leadership Summit (COL) from 2:30PM to 6PM. The all-inclusive Awards Presentation, Luncheon and COL Summit registration is $75. Register online or by mail.

Thank you Sponsors!

When the spotlight shines on the Positively Powerful Woman, we get to shine a light on her and the causes that matter to her to empower all others to follow her lead. Dr. Joel P. Martin

Corporate Sponsors include Southwest Gas Corporation Community & Consumer Affairs, Arizona State University Diversity and Small Business Program, the National Bank of Arizona founders of the Women’s Financial Group and Henkel where excellence is their passion.  If you are not able to attend, consider sponsoring a seat for a relative or community member.

Dr. Joel P. Martin, Awards Creator and Producer, Positively Powerful Woman Awards. Dr. Joel P. Martin is considered “a genuine genius in her approach to personal transformation.” She is a training designer, facilitator and executive coach, speaker and author. She has worked with hundreds of individuals in Fortune 500 companies, nonprofit and entrepreneurial organizations across many industries in the U.S, South Africa, France, the U.K., Latvia, Finland, Malaysia, Russia and China. Through her company, Triad West Inc., she provides corporate services specializing in diversity and inclusion, leadership development, organizational alignment and executive coaching in breakthrough performance. Dr. Martin serves as a Commissioner on the Human Relations Commission, City of Scottsdale, a board member of ABHOW - a pioneer in senior living,  and she is the Director of Education and Training for the annual FraserNet PowerNetworking Conference, where urban professionals grow and prosper.

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Some of the largest companies in the world have found themselves in hot water because the nature of their business has changed and their predominant Leadership Style has restricted them from altering their direction.  How the people in leadership, consciously and unknowingly shape the organizational culture,  form and engage multi-generational teams, create agreements, and react now is radically different from how it used to be. Companies like, Paper Jam, Amazon.com, Google, Apple, Premier Payment Sytems, and Woot were giving hints about the changes that were coming. In the past, it was known that large companies had difficulty in changing strategies in mid stream, but at Internet speed changing course has become nearly impossible albeing vitally important for them. Leadership Styles are evolving to fit the changes.

Leadership development programs created as recently as five years ago need to be reaccessed and radically changed. The cost of entry into business has come down and there is plenty of talent available for hire, be it as consultants or staff.

Positively Powerful is creating a new set of Leadership Development Programs specifically for Entrepreneurs and Women.  Our objective is to prepare people for the new Leadership Styles that are paramount today.

Google's Self Driving Car

Dan Burden, co-founder of Walkable and Livable Communities Institute spoke recently at a local TEDx Phoenix event about the aging Baby Boomers population and their massive numbers. One point he made to the audience is that most of  us will likely live 15 years or more beyond our physical ability to drive a car.

Dan Burden educates cities on how to design livable sustainable communities and neighborhoods so that they are able to support an aging baby boomer population. As we look around, we can see that there is a lot of work we need to do.

Dan Burden is the Executive Director of the Walkable And Liveable Communities institute. The WALC Institute inspires, teaches, connects and supports communities in their efforts to improve health and well-being through better built environments.

Walkable Communities are Liveable Communities for Baby Boomers.

The Baby Boomer is the first generational group to grow up with the belief that an automobile is an extension of themselves. Baby Boomers created two car families, the vacation home and the Sunday road trip as a right that they had. Baby Boomers may see giving up this mobility as a loss of personal freedom.

It is obvious that our communities will need to be redesigned and that walking paths, aging in place, memory care units and speed bumps may be in all of our futures. And for many boomers, the urge to get away, to visit and see something that is outside of their community will continue to exist. For Baby Boomers a portion of their identity comes from their cars and there will be resistance to having this avenue to mobility closed down.

There is no single solution for our aging populations. Neighborhoods designed with gardens, safe walking paths, easy access shopping, urban living accommodations and other commercial outlets are some of the good things we need do now. While help with some of the psychological trauma that sometimes comes with the loss of the ability to drive and aging may be on its way, check out the Google’s’ “Self Driving Automobile” which is here now. It  may help extend our physical abilities. Ford motors and others are addressing the issue of aging directly as they look at making cars “smarter” and safer to drive. Bill Ford on TED 2011

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Leadership and what it means “to be a leader” is greatly misunderstood in 2012. We’ve begun to substituted the fairytale notion of the

team building

“White Knight” whose singular obligation is to show up in the last second and save us, our organization and communities at the end the game. We just love the narrative that surrounds the last shot,  the fourth quarter drive, or the home run in the 9th as signals for the win.  All of these are about good fortune and talent though not necessarily about leadership.

Nestled in this notion of the “White Knight” is our belief  that we personally don’t have to take any responsibility for how we participated in the game, that doing the right thing or believing and trusting our team doesn’t matters.  If the end game is so important, then why play the other three quarters? Because most organizations win in an unspectacular fashion – day to day to day, making the small wins that add up to the big one. Leadership, trust, genuineness and the desire to serve all needs to be present at all times.

Here are four keys to winning any game.

• Preparation: In sports, the hours spent on the practice field, getting physically fit, watching tapes  and learning about your opponent makes the difference.  Same is true elsewhere. In the recently released “Game Change” (HBO Movies) the lack of preparation was sited as a major contributor to the difficulties that  John McCain and his runny mate Sarah Palin faced in their 2008 presidential  campaign.
• Team alignment: The expression that your organization is only as strong as your weakest link is not a saying it’s the truth. Every  one has to have the same vision, goals, mission and to be ready mentally when called on.
• Execution: Knowing what to do and doing it are not the same thing. Do the right thing for the right reasons.
• Open to Coaching: When you are in the middle of the game it is impossible to see what you are doing correctly or incorrectly. No one can afford to wait until the game is over to find out what they are doing. Call “time out” and get coached if you want to win.

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Click here to view the embedded video.

Check out this quote from Larry Foyt, team director of AJ Foyt Racing.

“We had a really good day of testing yesterday. It was a lot of long nights of hard work to get ready for this test as all the teams are trying to figure out this new car as quickly as they can. Our guys did a really good job as the ABC Supply car ran well all day. I love the communication going on right now between the driver and the engineers. Mike was really smart, pushed the car to where it needed to be but didn’t go over that fine line. We made some good changes and learned a lot about the car.”

The most powerful tool a NASCAR driver has is his car — but his car wouldn’t surv­ive even one race without the care it gets from the crew. NASCAR pit crews are sometimes called the unsung heroes of the sport. That’s because they keep the car (and the driver) going, but they often get very little credit. However, those who are in the know recognize that NASCAR crew members are an integral part of every NASCAR victory and are superb athletes in their own right.

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What if we determined that leaderships’ role is not to solve everything (the world) but rather to open a door to another’s possibility.  What if the fact that we don’t realize the difference we make with people is simply because we are reluctant to say, sincerely to one another, “Thank You, You’ve been a Powerful Presence in My Life at This Moment”. It is a simple thing to do, acknowledging the contribution of others in your own special way and words and actions. It’s free and it’s powerful. 

Most of our readers know how much we appreciate TED talks, and when possible we attend the local TEDx events in our town. Here is a recent video release from TED that we feel illustrates what we believe about leaders. One of the tenets of true leadership is being about something larger than self and being focused on something other than self. It is our authentic joy, love and willingness to be awake and aware that has the ability to change the world, one person at a time. This is just one example of how it’s done.

Black History Month Presentation Slide Dr. Joel P Martin

This Asante proverb was an inspiration to me as I wrote the text of my recent keynote speech for a global corporation’s African American Professional Forum’s Black History month celebration. I asked my audience to be mindful that the demographics and psychographics of the African American and Black populations have been defined by history and asked them to take a journey with me. Even though none of our generations can even begin to imagine what it would be like to live in the part of Black history that I would open with, I asked that they do their best to empathetically understand – to feel – what a true reason we have for honoring the journey of the African American and Black people to the 1.2 trillion dollar spending power they have today. I had one hour to make this difference with my audience. Here are a few of the highlights. I welcome your comments.

The denial of freedom through Slavery accounted for the transportation of a staggering 20 million Africans brought by force and unable to retain a link with family, homeland or language; brought to the Caribbean and Brazil for the big money in sugar and to North America for tobacco and cotton. Half didn’t complete the journey from the African coast dying along the way. Ex-slaves and Black freed people joined by White Abolitionists protested slavery and assisted slaves to freedom using safe houses and the Underground Railroad: Harriet Tubman, an ex-slave and humanitarian, Fredrick Douglas, also an ex-slave, a great speaker and writer, a living rebuttal to slaveholders’ arguments that slaves did not have great intellectual capacity and William Lloyd Garrison, a good friend of Fredrick Douglas. We are the legacy of those who survived the journey over, the illness, the cruelty, the loss of family, status, and position. the loss of life. How would you feel, what would you do it this happened to you?

The denial of the right to Access through the Jim Crow laws passed in 1908. These laws mandated that Black people use separate facilities for travel, lodging, eating and drinking, schooling, worship, housing, and other aspects of social and economic life. However, while after World War I, the Supreme Court declared the Jim Crow laws unconstitutional, the practices too often continued. There was advertising not to Black people; but about them with harsh, negative and stereotypical Black characterizations. YET, despite insults to their humanity. Despite being socially, culturally and environmentally displaced. Despite the physical and mental forms of enslavement, lives lost around them, their cultural patterns persisted– some were reinterpreted, others adapted to fit the new environment. What adaptations would you/do you find necessary to survive, to exist, to heal?

Frederick Douglas said, “Men are not valued in this country, or in any country, for what they are, they are valued for what they do.” And BECAUSE THEY HAD TO THEY DID. Not being allowed access, Black people created Black industries for example, Marcus Garvey, a Jamaican publisher, speaker and advocate of the Black Nationalist and Pan African movements and Madam C.J. Walker, the first female millionaire, who invented and produced Black hair care products and a school. Black Churches were founded and they created Historically Black Colleges and universities. Black media was established. In time Black-owned ad agencies and PR firms were created to present the Black image in a positive portrayal. In Greenwood, Oklahoma there was Black Wall Street ultimately destroyed by vigilante racist white mobs. Other products, artists, and Black-oriented enterprises flourished. Because they were driven, the legacy of these Black entrepreneurs continues today. Dr. Maya Angleou said, “We did what we could with what we knew — and when we knew better we did better.”

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  Black History Month Celebration - Entrepreneurs

The Assertion of Rights in response to segregation came with World War II when Black male and female soldiers returned to America. What would you do? They demanded an end to discrimination. Willa Beatrice Brown was the first African-American woman to hold a commercial pilot’s license in the United States and the first African-American female officer in the Civil Air Patrol. She was responsible for Congress’ forming the renowned Tuskegee Airmen squadron, leading to the integration of the U.S. military service in 1948. (See Red Tail.) After A. Philip Randolph threatened a March on Washington, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued the Executive Order stating that there should be “no discrimination in the employment of workers in defense industries or Government because of race, creed, color, or national origin.” In 1941. EEO for the military was born.

The passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964 prohibited discrimination in public places, provided for the integration of schools and other public facilities, and made employment discrimination illegal. This document was the most sweeping civil rights legislation since Reconstruction. Rosa Parks, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and people of all nationalities, cultures and races made this possible. The world hasn’t been the same since.

We had to go there to get here.

There are 23.9 million active African American internet users. They are early adopters and more likely to watch video online and to access online content via smart phones and other alternative platforms. Some of the brilliant African Americans I’ve come to find out about are Aprille Ericsson-Jackson — the first Black woman to receive a PhD in Engineering at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Philip Emeagwali who developed the fastest supercomputer software in the world. His IQ is too high to be measured by conventional standards, and he’s won a Gordon Bell Prize, which is like the Nobel Prize for computer science. Mark Dean without whom there may not have been a PC. He holds three of IBM’s original nine PC patents and led the teams that developed the first one-gigahertz chip. And Baratunde Thurston, Director of Digital, The Onion.

African American and Black people are aware of their racial identity. This is evident in their sense of pride and their awareness of discrimination issues – a majority say that discrimination is still a part of most African Americans’ day-to-day lives. Black and African American people are more than likely to say they know how to stand up for themselves…because most have had to. We all know what it is to feel unwelcome in a store regardless of how much or how little one earns. How do you feel when you are stereotyped and discriminated against. Would you stand up for yourself?

This is the pause for the cause of celebration…we all also know what it feels like to have an organization and brand show support and appreciate of African American and Black peoples’ contributions and to celebrate with them their history.

In his book “Brainwashed: Challenging the Myth of Black Inferiority “ Tom Burrell reminded us

“One of the greatest propaganda campaigns of all time was the masterful marketing of the myth of Black inferiority to justify slavery within a democracy.” The last several centuries still haunt us, and hinder our advancement and achievement.”

We’ve still got a long way to go. Meritocracy is a dream. Stereotypes those fearful of the growing majority minority coexists with champions of diversity and change agents who are visionary leaders. We’re moving in the direction of diversity with inclusion and the measurement of different evidences of power along with the purchasing power of other people of color. But that’s a blog post for another day.

We do because we have to. I am because we are…  Powerful. The ability to create the future without being limited by the past. To make the seemingly impossible possible through action. Power is knowing with all certainty that our success is dependent on our ability to create meaningful relationships in our lives. Like those connections our African and Black fore-fathers and fore-mothers have made possible for us. Power is having faith that “A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.” (Proverbs 11: 25) And with that it transforms into empowerment. There is consumer power, love power, community power and green power.

We have many faces. We are many things. We come from many places. We contribute. We spend. We love. We influence. And… We are not all the same.

Note: The Selig Center for Economic Growth annually produces a comprehensive The Multicultural Economy of consumer buying power in the United States. Buying power is defined as disposable income that is available for spending after taxes.

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Hubble Space Photograph of the Sombrero Galaxy

This is excerpted from my book HOW TO BE A POSITIVELY POWERFUL PERSON. It would not have been possible without the greatly appreciated explanations of Nelson Frye who first explained the terms abstract and functional purpose to me.

Purpose answers the questions: Why do I exist? What is my calling? How am I called to serve?

Discovering my purpose and changing my life so that I could live it was one of the biggest breakthroughs of my life. I asked myself: “What do I want to do with the rest of my life?” The answer was evident. My purpose was (and is!) to make a difference, to get people where they want to be … faster! Working with entrepreneurs and corporate leaders who are growing their businesses, building harmonious, winning and inclusive teams fits comfortably within this purpose.

Your purpose in working may be to earn a living, run a company, make a product, or take care of your family. Your purpose in exercising may be to stay in shape, to have fun, or to lose weight. These are short-term purposes. A more powerful purpose is one that you ‘be’. This purpose answers the question, “Why am I alive?” This purpose will guide you for a lifetime. Through it, you will influence others and you will know the actions to take when you are supporting your purpose.

I’m sure that you have asked yourself the question of purpose in some way or at some point in your life. Maybe as a child you looked up at the stars and wondered how far the universe went and what your place in it was.

Regardless, if this is the 1,000,000th time or the first time, take this opportunity to consider the following questions regarding your true purpose: What brings you joy in the giving? How do you spend your volunteer time? What interests have you consistently been about since you were a child? Why? When you think about the legacy you would like to leave, what comes to mind? What is the highest and best use of your time and talents?

Regardless of what it is that you do and why you do it (functional purpose), what is the reason you are ‘here’ that will leave a legacy and be so important that you feel compelled to take action (abstract purpose)? Expressing your purpose in an abstract way will empower you to be ‘on purpose’ in all areas of your positively powerful life. Here are examples of purposes my workshops have inspired. As you will notice, they are abstract: To be creative. To express, inspire, and communicate ideas. To teach others. To make things work. To make a difference with others, to contribute. To lead change. To be a counselor, mentor, and coach. To heal. To run things as the leader. To create happiness.

We are each on this planet for a higher purpose, a purpose that speaks to the highest and best use of us.