 Hello and welcome to this edition of quality of life today. Our subject is choosing success and helping us discuss that subject is Jim Lurkey. Jim is the author of choosing success Jim welcome to the show Hi, good morning Jim first of all for our viewers. Could you give us just a background on yourself? Well, I've been a guy who's been there done that from growing up on a farm to working in a workplace working all three shifts to being in human resources safety supervisor plant manager corporate safety director for a fortune 200 company and a plant manager in a fortune 200 company Wow, so you've been around the block a little bit. I have been around the block. Okay choosing success. What is it about? Well, what it's about is as I go about my teachings and leadership The biggest thing that I hear as far as a question is why aren't we getting the results? So choosing success came about because of exactly that How you deal with people treat people motivate people About being successful as a leader. Okay. Is that what brought about the book or is there a little bit more behind the story? Well, there's more of a little bit of what that story I Had a number of people through the years that asked me about writing a book and it was on The Jim lurky story and his private life. Okay, and what that was about primarily was losing a couple children and Then being involved in an I-43 crash fog accident It was going to be about overcoming tragedy and still being positive in life in that process of writing the book and It was detected by what I call a ghost writer From Indiana the port Indiana and we decided to make the shift when it was found out that I never failed with what I was doing in any 12 month period of my life Working in a professional field. That's what led me to switching to choosing success Wow, I can see that's quite a path to go down As far as that goes in the book So what are the main components of you know choosing success or how does one get to the level of success? well First of all the book talks about the seven elements to being successful Those seven elements you can apply to your life. You can apply to any leadership ownership of a business makes no difference The book primarily focused on safety and the reason for safety is safety's personal So that's the reason The emphasis was on safety, but you can use these seven principles to anything in life Wow So what are the seven principles? Seven principles Number one is commitment To get the best results you got to have commitment number two is Leading by example So often see it all the time Sell them like they goes by when someone don't say they're gonna do something and the end result is they don't do it themselves So number two lead by example do what you say, okay? Number three is goals if you can commit lead by example and then set your goals Then you'll have the best chance to meet those goals Number four number four is processes now. This is a huge category Because it could be processes and sales how you do sales Processes and standard work instruction or standard operating procedures. It can be policies and procedures You name it up to an including discipline So processes Number four and with processes It's also how certain processes interact with other processes. I'm assuming so how the whole chain or the gears fit together Absolutely correct number five is on communications some of the biggest things that I seen is Communicating one-on-one and how people communicate in there fending people You name it the other one part of communicating is Talking to you a group of people two or more and trying to get your point across so we talk about communicating in the book critical Then we move to number six And number six is celebrate Along the way, it seems like we in life sort of forgot about we need to celebrate our accomplishments and Reward those who have helped us in our successes And then we go to number seven last but not least It's audit the process and the reason for auditing the process In the workplaces and businesses. I will hear all the time Where people are making comments whether it's management and hourly folks alike Here comes another flavor of the day Businesses start something or a program and they stop they start they stop and they don't even tell the employees They stop so it is critical to have an audit process in place so that you can ensure What you say you're going to do and what you're doing is follow it and Audits are critical as far as the last step number seven Wow And I suppose you can turn right around and go back to step number one keeping in the circle because it can also be a Continuous process as well and it is a continuous process like number four talks about processes And I've learned that if there's a failure and we'll take safety for example Somebody chooses to do the wrong thing And yet maybe they commit it But they didn't walk the walk and talk to talk by leading by example and doing what they said they were going to do So so often more often than I'm not I'll get to number one or number two and that's our part of the issue is And then probably communication filters in a little bit there because you know, it's not flowing through or the light isn't going on so to speak That's where you need that's why you need all seven all seven Is there a component of education in there where to bring people up the speed or an orientation, you know So they get to see where the car is going versus doing their little part Well in the book I talked about Step-by-step with given an example, okay, and when someone is struggling with certain things they could revert back to the book Look at those seven elements and see where they do they need to align or realign to make sure they're getting the best results Okay How long have you been practicing in teaching the you know the process of choosing success? How long has that been in existence? Since I started working on the original block Being about overcoming tragedy and it's switched. I Would say about two and a half years right now, okay that I've started to talk and educate people on those seven principles Okay, with your background. Did you have any formal education or training in these types of techniques? Or is this something you came up through your life experiences and just applying common sense? I Would tell you applying common sense would be pretty accurate and When I look back at the different things that I've been involved in and being successful These are the seven that I came up with and in the two and a half years at least right now And I challenged other leaders and different folks to tell me if there's anything missing in these seven I've heard nothing different and To me, it's these seven elements are right in the head on how you can be successful in life Okay, I know you alluded to earlier as far as What can be used in the business place workplace? Where do you see people using you know this process or your guidance now? In any business any manufacturer Any type of leadership position they could use that buck whether it's from ownership to executives to human resources to Supervisors and leadership Including an hourly employee how to communicate with each other one-on-one and be respectful and a caring person How about in a personal nature or other types of you know organizations? Let's say health care or education You know those types of areas as well As I referred to earlier you can use these seven elements in anything you're doing in life because if you take processes in Any kind of business there's processes in place goals Goal is a given but how to get there Talking about first and foremost number one is commitment and leading by example Those are the things that I've forgotten the best way for me to tell you is it's like New Year's Eve when somebody wants to make Commitment or they or they're gonna try to make that commitment for a new year's resolution How often majority of the time? they don't live up to that and Probably this is a good example when I look at committing to doing what you say you're gonna do and making believers out of people Starting with yourself. That's how you get results And I could see even in the family structure so to speak You know when you're raising kids whatever you want to lead by example and do that You know instead of the old do as I say not as I do so to speak, you know Parents they used to say or whichever years ago, you know, it comes right down in the family structure, too It comes down to anything in life and you're exactly right whether it's family. It's friends. It's business. It's leadership It's an employee being the best you can be that's what it's all about In creating the book the whole structure and everything what type of support did you have? You know it must have been Quite an ordeal, you know with what you went through personally and then to come Ahead of the game so to speak, you know to get you know back on the tracks and you know come up with the book What type of support did you have? Oh? I had an unbelievable amount of people that Would help support the mission and my mission obviously once I come in because I didn't want to do anything I didn't want nothing to do with the book originally Then when I got into it, I'll never forget the one comment that someone made early on You're gonna find out and learn about yourself and that's exactly what I did So I had support whether it was proofing it was writing it was Anything I needed help when I really got that support and I'm very blessed for that excellent Can you give us some insights on the new Jim lurky so to speak and what you've learned through the process? Do you want to share? Well, I don't think it's anything about the new Jim lurky other than What the Jim lurky learned about himself? Okay? When you're so focused on doing what you do and seeing results and seeing making a difference in life You lose sight of what you're about when you're in this process and in the process. I found out I Am a caring person. I Want what I believe is is doable and achievable as far as results no matter what it is I want other people to share in that success as well And that's the biggest thing I learned about it helping people to be the best they can be in life Which then raises their quality of life which then if we're raising, you know other people's quality of life Quality of life in general raises And that's a perfect scenario Because I could give you a case in point in my personal life Remember starting softball at age 20. I mean age 18 and some 25 years later Being inducted into two hull of fames and softball winning a world championship in Louisville, Kentucky It's incredible skies the limit If you're a person who doesn't want to quit and wants to see and be the best they can be But I think that's another important note to take is there will be failures along the way But you can't look at those as okay, I can't do this or no this isn't gonna work You look at it as opportunities and how you can solve it And you may have to take a few steps back in the process and start over to see how you can overcome it and even you know Achieve success on a greater level one of the things when I teach and it's interesting you bring that point up is We are as good as we are when we deal with the worst situations Obviously in my case as I shared losing two children which now we've lost a third What makes us who we are is how well we respond to adversity and doing the worst of times when things are great Everybody's happy and satisfied when things are or our feathers are ruffled or you got to deal with the worst of times in life That's when you really find out what how good of a person you really are Yeah, that's when it's time to roll up the sleeves and But I did like your your wording Opportunities, how can you turn something into a positive? Correct? A few weeks ago you had the grand releasing of choosing success. You had your book signing Could you tell us about that as far as that experience? Well, it was a remarkable experience from the first and foremost not Wanting to do it, but I had business Leaders who convinced me to do it and if we would have had 70 there I would have really been happy here at the University of Wisconsin Sheboy in campus The reality was it was upwards of up to 300 totally overwhelmed totally numbing and It was a huge success At that point, you know, I could see you were probably on this all-time high You know riding the wave and surfing on it, you know, just enjoying the moment Could you explain to our viewers, you know, how that felt? I Think the biggest thing and how I felt I was totally numb Overwhelmed by the number of people that came for a book signing when I went on did some investigation and thinking maybe 70 would show up and There were more than that that came to the speech that was given. So it was It's way beyond my expectations of how and what happened was signing the book. Okay Again, there too. What type of help did you need to make that all happen in your process as far as the book signing and launching the book and You know getting it out there I think the biggest thing was business friends who shared you should do this do that and then putting it all together Myself and making a final decision Like choosing success choosing success choosing that process choosing What that from a time to have it to place to have it what to serve To make it the best event possible And that's why it was overwhelming planning on 70 and and so many so many people showing up Okay, what type of feedback have you been receiving from the the book in the process? so far I've had anything from business people to ownership of business to school systems to a person in a tech college That have talked about using it And and really finding themselves with the seven principles and So it's really been amazing what I've heard Because the book really is put together in the most simplistic quick read Something people could refer to to get those results that that you as a person desire I think that's important keeping things simple like you had mentioned the quick read You know here's like a quick reference guide You know we can take this and then obviously if people need help we're implementing it That's where you come in as well as you can be contacted Absolutely, I can be contacted at my email gym at safety connections calm or a simple phone call on my cell Which I take with me everywhere nine two and nine one two seven two three three nice Can they also get copies of the book from you at those same Means of contact. Yes, if they contacted me I can assure them that we will take care of somehow some way getting them a book Okay, are you going to be going through other? Distributors or bookstores for selling it as well. Yes, right now right now. It is out on Amazon. Okay So it is going extremely extremely well. I would imagine then your schedule has Increased Exponentially as well with you know launching the book and you know your career and helping other people with your passion as far as that Yes, I've actually noticed that effect Since the actual book signing day folks that want me to come in and obviously talk about leadership and Being able to be a best person you can be nice Could you walk us through Jim? Let's say I'm a manager that would like you know some guidance I'm looking a way to get things going to motivate people to you know get the train on the track so to speak again What would? You know an organization the step-by-step do to make that happen, you know using your book Well it talks about different things to motivate But going to a training session per se what I will do and that's been a process over time But it's to get leaders to think about what am I doing to motivate one of the things leaders don't realize in general for the you know It's basically common sense But we don't think about what we're doing to motivate people so that we are what we're really doing as leaders Is creating the want to get results? The seven principles create that want Okay So if I wanted to I could contact yourself You know for kind of jump-starting integrating us in the right direction and then the book should pretty much Shouldn't say the book but the choosing success seven processes or seven steps should get us there Absolutely now sometimes what we're running into and what we see and it makes total sense is when you've been in a team setting for How long and sometimes businesses aren't seeing the responses from people Well, they've been in that environment so long. It isn't that they don't know right from wrong But sometimes they need a jump-start and when a third party comes in it's ironic But because it's someone like me saying it all of a sudden now it becomes reality That's one of the things I've been learning and seeing actually firsthand That's nice. That's I know when I came to the city For my tenure and everything it kind of comes down to first thing you hear Well, that's the way we've always done it and like you said people kind of get into that mold or whatever And it's hard for them to break out where if somebody from the outside, you know, just makes that you know that remark or that Idea or launches that idea things can really change and open up Absolutely because in general people resist change as I'm sure you know and Yes, I feel the book and the training helps to open up avenues Definitely, and it isn't just government. I mean Changes change people by nature if they're comfortable in their comfort zone They don't want to change things because they're comfortable. I mean, it's working, you know, they don't want to disrupt that routine But the other thing I know is I think Industries can learn from each other where this can be the common factor, you know, like health care How did you do this? You know, like we had talked about earlier, you know It's about helping people, you know health care and it's that customer service Level that I think is somewhat lacking in this country as far as you know Just helping people pointing people in the right direction and helping them not just say, okay We'll just call that number, you know Like we talked about if you're an ED and you come in and your arms chopped off and you're bleeding You're not going to say well walk down to the ED. They're going to get you help And I think that's the extreme side of it versus, you know, other industries, you know, like manufacturing the service industry Government, you know, all of that can learn from each other and how to do it because it's just you are Selling a service, a product or yourself or something else But the means should still be the same and how to deliver that service or that product One thing is, as you talk about Change, one thing that comes to my mind Those folks that are in leadership that are unwilling to change If business leaders and owners Aren't willing to change My direction is real simple five to ten years They'll find themselves on the outside looking in and it's by choice So that's where I come back to the title of choosing success. It's an individual choice It's a leader's choice To be the best you can be and being successful And actually be surprised how successful you can be just applying these simple These simple steps and you know compiling it with Common sense Well, I can look back when I look back and it was pointed out to me in this process That I made every goal at the end of a 12 month period That was set in front of me and mutually agreed upon by myself There's a lot of people that can say that And by living these seven principles when I develop what I believe are those seven principles That's to me what drove the success of my life Nice As far as goals, you know, they always say you should shoot high and then if you don't make it there That's okay, but you should still have lofty goals What's your thought on that? My goal my goal my belief is simple. Okay number one If they're extreme It's not a realistic goal. It's got to be realistic And I like using what's called the smart theory Specific measurable attainable reasonable and it must have a timetable if you can't do that To me I wouldn't be using a goal But I believe those That is what you have to do with goals And obviously once you reach the goal through a period of time you need to re-establish the goal And it should involve everyone And not certain people Or as I hear all the time on teams, it's about who's got the squeaky wheel or it's or We pay attention to the squeaky wheel. Let's just say that No We have goals, you know, we had talked about we have success We're to strategy or strategies Or visions come into how this plays out Well, I I think It's very simplistic in nature that we can talk about goals and we talk about visions And vision is more long term in my opinion Meaning if you want to have a plan that's Five years three years one year But understand that a vision is different than a goal And most goals need to be monthly All right, and yearly and to be re-established Don't wait till January of the current year to start looking at goals That should come well ahead of time meaning you're looking at Three months 90 days in advance to start preparing And then you always raise the bar All right, and keep the avenues moving when processes That you keep looking to strive to be the best you can be At what level in an organization do you think should be laying out, you know, the mission the vision Strategy and then the different tactics and goals You know from that structure from top to bottom, you know, where do you think that should all lay? I think it should lay in the beginning right from the get go If you lay out what you want And uh you make that commitment So often a lot of businesses fail because the commitment ain't there in the first place So if you follow those steps And you look to lay everything out at the get go obviously As long as we're willing to change and we're open-minded That a person's still Open to change whether it's the vision or the goal And uh, but they're moving forward And it's a no quit never quit attitude Definitely, it's almost like what do you want to be when you grow up where you always look at You know how many times you change majors and College or you know when you first start out you want to be a game warden and it's an astronaut That's whatever but as long as you have that willingness to Make those goals, you know to move forward and then as you know, you move on you realize what we need to change a little bit That's interesting. You bring that up Because one of the things I'm finding with leaders The majority of leaders Are really not happy Doing what they're doing And that's amazing to me And sometimes we in business wonder why we're not getting the results And To me it's pretty simple. We need to do what we love doing Where we have the passion The will and determination to be the best we can be When people always ask me well, how is it working for a city and I just tell them I'm living the dream. I'm living the dream. My address is one rock star lane That is awesome That's awesome and and and based on what I do it's The passion of seeing others Achieving results that they never thought were possible And then I think the other thing is recognizing those achievements that staff People in general make you know saying hey, that's a great job instead of always saying there and you know, you didn't get this done Because you know it gets discouraged easily when you're always beat down with the stick for messing up versus Recognize them rewarding. Hey, this is really great work. The team is really great. You know, this is really Did a good job. Well, that's interesting. You bring that up because when I talk in the in the actual training if you had someone that could You train you talk about a hundred things you talk about 99 of them that are positive And you talk about one that's negative And you come back three months six months a year later. What do you think people remember? They remember the negative. Yep So I revert I refer to you positive reinforcement praising people but by using one word The word thanks. Yep, definitely Well, Jim, I'd like to thank you for spending time out of your busy day and your launch of the book choosing success So it's been a pleasure having you here Well, I appreciate you having me in and being able to talk about choosing success Definitely If anybody of our viewer if any of our viewers are interested more in choosing success You can contact us on our website at www.wscsheboygan.com For quality of life and on behalf of Jim Lurkey. I'm Dave Augustine. Thanks for watching