March 26, 2008
The Mentorship Approach With Teams & Groups
If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Do good anyway.
© Copyright Kent M. Keith 1968, renewed 2001
Maybe it’s skepticism borne through experience that causes many employees to doubt their employer ever acts out of consideration or kindness.
Maybe it’s a sign of a pervasive entrepreneurial spirit that clients will tend to see improvements in your service as just a way to earn more money. Or maybe Kent Keith is right. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in The Mentorship Approach With Teams & Groups, Zine 6: March 2008 
1 Comment »
March 17, 2008
Elephant Burgers
You have a plan to change your life. At least you have the next couple of steps.
You look at what you’ve written down to move you forward. You know you want to get there. You remember being excited just thinking about taking these steps.
But now when you look at the steps on your To-Do List you keep putting them off. Some people say it’s resistance—maybe you’re anxious about changing, maybe the rut feels comfortable and keeps calling to you. But that doesn’t really fit.
What could be holding you back? Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Elephant Burgers, Zine 6: March 2008 Comments Off on Write A To-Do List That Works
February 29, 2008
Striving and Thriving
“What was that you were doing?” Jean Good asked her husband Scott. He was in the garage, actually trying to have some privacy. He was practicing his newfound sport Tae Kwon Do and didn’t really want her to see him.
Scott was practicing basic form one, the first collection of steps new students learn in the martial art form. “From the moment I set eyes on basic form one, I knew I wanted to do it,” Jeanie said. “I’ve never had something affect me like that.”
Eighteen years later, Jean Good is known as Master Jeanie and is a sixth degree black belt. She’s the first woman to achieve that high rank in the World Youn Wha Ryu Association. Her husband Scott is also a Tae Kwon Do Master, having earned the rank of fifth degree black belt.
Circumstances: Random Chance or Destiny?
Scott and Jeanie and their children were living in Tucson when Scott’s company notified him they were going to transfer him to the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The family only had to wonder how they would manage such a big change for about a month. That’s when Jeanie’s company said they were relocating and taking six managers with them. She was selected to go with them—to the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
Scott had always been interested in martial arts so when an instructor started offering classes at his health club he signed up. That’s how he happened to be practicing basic form one in the garage when Jeanie walked in.
Jeanie and her daughters started taking classes shortly after. Scott and the instructor struck up a friendship that turned into a business partnership. With Scott’s intensity and business acumen, the two men opened satellites in every location they could find. Within a few months they found a site to open a permanent school in Grapevine, a suburban community near DFW Airport. With Scott and Jeanie just beginning to advance up the belt levels, they were co-owners of a Tae Kwon Do training studio.
Finding Her Mission
Scott and Jeanie kept their jobs and worked at the school in the evenings. Jeanie was teaching classes from the time she had her yellow belt, the first step up from beginner. As she and Scott were around other students and other training styles, they realized the partnership with their original instructor would not work out long term. His style was too abrupt.
Jeanie has always seen how Tae Kwon Do can develop the whole person, and that’s how she wanted it taught. She’s a strict instructor, and students leave her classes sweating and panting. But they know beyond any doubt that she cares about them and sees them as individuals.
They dissolved the partnership and Scott and Jeanie took charge of the school. With his business skills and her focus on training, it started booming, and just in time. Scott and Jeanie were both laid off from their jobs one day apart. They decided to focus on building the business since it was already growing so well. For many years they had great success.
They helped set up satellite schools in other parts of Texas and developed on-site satellite programs for beginner classes that eventually brought more students to the main school. They planned a second school in an affluent neighborhood near the Dallas Cowboys headquarters. It was set to open October 2, 2001. September 11 got in the way.
Plans Derailed And New Challenges
Many industries were affected by September 11, some in obvious ways, like the airlines. The Tae Kwon Do schools felt the affects in a big way. The new location never reached enough students to be feasible so it closed quickly. The Grapevine location saw a substantial drop in students, too. It was a long-term change, so Scott eventually found a full-time job while he continued to teach some evenings and helped oversee the business. Jeanie found herself with more of the responsibility for the school, especially the business decisions that had never been her strong suit.
She also felt the need to support the association, since other schools in the region were struggling, too. Grandmaster Han, a highly accomplished ninth degree black belt respected worldwide in martial arts, established The World Youn Wha Ryu association. Jeanie realized the strength of her school is due in large part to the strength of the association and Grandmaster Han’s philosophy. It was important to her to be an active leader in the association. She put a lot of her time and effort into helping grow the association and keeping it active while she was also keeping her school going and slowly building up student levels.
With Scott working full-time Jeanie had to make more of the decisions about things like marketing and where to set up on-site classes to build up the number of students. She is now implementing a written business plan (a first for her) that includes starting training for assistant instructors at a lower belt level so they can participate early on and be encouraged to become full instructors at the higher belt levels. She is finding locations for satellite schools and looking for places to offer demonstrations by students. She is even learning about advertising, at least enough to make effective choices. The student levels are not back to where they were before, but they are slowly rising.
The Hardest Thing She Ever Did
Jeanie became Master Jeanie in January of 2002 when she received the rank of fifth degree black belt. It was a culmination of years of training and focused hard work preparing to test. She joined the small group of Masters in the World Youn Wha Ryou Association who guide the organization and uphold its standards and ethics. It was an inspiring accomplishment, and surely she thought she was done testing.
Grandmaster Han saw there was even more in Jeanie. This past summer he invited her to test for her sixth degree black belt. She knew it would take months of training and be a drain on her both mentally and physically, but she trusted in her Grandmaster’s vision and accepted his invitation.
In December 2007 Jeanie honored the Grandmaster in a belt test that will be remembered for ages. She engaged in two-on-one sparring, being challenged by a fifth degree black belt and a third degree black belt at the same time. She was kind and only took them down a couple of times. Then, in a stunning display of top defensive forms, she had a group of Masters line up and attack her, one after the other, getting back in line for further attacks, as she demonstrated dozens of takedown moves. It was breathtaking.
That night, at a surprise party thrown by her students, Jeanie told the crowd that preparing for the test and meeting that challenge was the hardest thing she had ever done. Her daughters, both black belts, told her how much of an inspiration she is for them and other women because of her strength and courage and dedication.
A Natural Teacher
Jeanie’s strength is teaching. It’s her calling. She’s a natural at it because she loves the movements of Tae Kwon Do and she enjoys people. She is warm and sincere and sees her students as family. “I can’t imagine not teaching them,” she says. “I do this not just to teach them to kick and punch. I do this to help them change their lives. I’ve seen it happen dozens of times.”
The thing is, Jeanie thinks it’s the Tae Kwon Do that’s changing their lives. Certainly the system, based in honor and discipline and respect and self-control, helps students build character and confidence. But that’s only part of it. What Jeanie doesn’t realize is that lives are changing because her attention and dedication and love are transforming her students.
Posted in Striving and Thriving, Zine 5: February 2008 3 Comments »
February 29, 2008
The Mentorship Approach With Kids & Teens
How do we get our kids to do what they’re supposed to do? Most of us grew up with basic chores, homework, and house rules. It all seems perfectly logical to us as adults. But our kids don’t seem to agree!
When simple directions don’t work, some parents command or even threaten. Others bargain, bribe, and plead. But not much happens. I was skeptical when I learned Faber and Mazlish’s techniques for engaging cooperation. But when I tried them they worked—like magic. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in The Mentorship Approach With Kids & Teens, Zine 5: February 2008 Comments Off on How To Talk So Kids Will Listen: The Second Tip Is Abracadabra
February 29, 2008
The Mentorship Approach With Teams & Groups
People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered. Love them anyway.
© Copyright Kent M. Keith 1968, renewed 2001
Words like these sound wonderful in an inspirational speech or a sermon. I close my eyes and smile and think, “What a wonderful world.” Then reality walks in wearing flesh and bones and a rude attitude! Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in The Mentorship Approach With Teams & Groups, Zine 5: February 2008 Comments Off on The First Paradoxical Commandment
February 29, 2008
Pursuit of Happiness: Work & Play
What better way to pursue happiness than by learning how to work at what you love?
What better way to combine work and play than by bringing the things you enjoy into your work life?
Even better, how about sending yourself on a retreat to have fun, enjoy time away, find your life mission, and be able to claim it as a deduction on your tax return! Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Pursuit of Happiness: Work & Play, Zine 5: February 2008 Comments Off on Work At What You Love
February 29, 2008
Pursuit of Happiness: Money
I listen to financial advice talk shows from time to time. Two of my favorites are Dave Ramsey on the radio and Suze Orman on television.
If you’ve heard both of them, you might have noticed their ideas are different in a lot of ways. They especially differ on how to approach paying off credit card debt. When I was thinking about helpful ideas for getting rid of debt, I tried to imagine a conversation between the two of them. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Pursuit of Happiness: Money, Zine 5: February 2008 3 Comments »
February 29, 2008
Elephant Burgers
For me, scheduling my time is like budgeting my money. If I make a plan for it, I direct it and stay in charge. If I don’t have a plan, I spend some here and spend some there and turn around at the end of the day and wonder where it all went.
When you budget your money, you tell your money what you want it to do. When you budget your time, you tell your time… Wait! Not really. You don’t tell your time what you want it to do. You tell yourself what you want you to do with the time you have. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Elephant Burgers, Zine 5: February 2008 2 Comments »
. She loves to talk about the “Joyfully Jobless” life. It’s easy to hear words like that and be skeptical. 
content rss
Recent Comments