All I Really Needed to Know Learned at Oklahoma FFA Alumni Camp

I just finished speaking at my 68th session of Oklahoma FFA Leadership Camp. This program is sponsored by the Oklahoma FFA Alumni, and it is one of the most phenomenal programs, and participating in it has made a positive impact on my life as well. Since 1994, I have been the kick-off speaker, doing 4 sessions every summer during the first two weeks of July. Here are some lessons that I have learned from camp that I have tried to weave into the fabric of my life. For those of you who were at camp, these are the lessons that are printed on the back of your "Best Friend". (at camp the term "Best Friend" is used to indicate their camp manual that they keep with them at all times).


1. Live with a smile on your face and love in your heart: It is amazing how a smile can make a positive difference on our day, how we feel about others and how others feel about you. Allowing yourself to smile more often is a great place to begin when making positive life changes.

2. Make each session of anything better than the last session you just finished: Camp is all about improvement, and focusing on getting better everyday. We are vigilant on improvement. Since there are four camps a summer the focus is always on getting better. Each year we work at making the next year better than the last year. By focusing on continuous improvement as an organization the individuals always find room to grow.

3. If someone is hanging back, encourage them: Camp is a great place because the small group leaders, the state officers and the staff are always finding ways to encourage others. What if we lived our lives always looking for ways to help others move upward and onward.

4. Don't use the "H" word and the "T" word they only bring others down: (I am whispering this: "H"=Hot and "T" = Tired and we don't use those words at camp) Choosing to not use those words at camp is a fun little game we play because we understand that the language we use has a powerful impact on our surroundings. We will be more productive when we focus on the opportunity instead of on the negative aspects of the situation.

5. Give Hugs:

6. Let others have the glory every chance you get:  Let's face it we live in a very "Me" centered culture and by spreading the glory to others we create ownership for others. When people feel ownership they are committed to making things better.

7. Be humble and they will remember you in positive ways after you leave: It is much easier to live with a humble person than an ego driven personality.

8. Playing in water brings people together: A really "cool" (pun intended) part of Alumni Camp is the water olympics. I wish that you could see it. It is a major production, and there is so much laughter and fun. It is a simple idea, but it makes a powerful impact on the camp, and the participants!

9. You never know when someone really important might be sitting next to you: Since we don't really know, doesn't it make sense to treat everyone with respect.

10. It doesn't matter who wins as much as who you become while you are playing: In a world obsessed with winning it would do us all good to focus on "who am I becoming" in the midst of the madness. When our focus is on becoming men and women of character, winning kind of takes a back seat. Not saying that we should strive to be our best. Camp is all about bringing your best self to the program everyday. However, if we disrespect others in the process by "trash talking" and "pumping our ego" what did we really win? Learning to win and lose with character and grace is the mark of a true champion.

11. Start off each day with lots of energizers: At camp we are very purposeful about how we start our day. We regard everyday as important and since amazing things are going to happen today it is important that we get ourselves going. Every day is special every day is unique, today your life might be changed, so it makes sense that we should get energized for today!

12. End each day sitting in a circle talking with people you care about: A huge piece of camp is "small group time" during this time campers go through a curriculum designed to teach leadership and respect for others. It is pretty cool to see how close the campers get with each other as a result of this experience. During this time a renewed appreciation for the individual arises as a result of people talking and listening to each other. In this day and age of electronic connectivity the power of face to face interaction is often over looked. What would happen in our personal lives if we spent a little time each day, giving value to others by practicing the art of listening. Leaders Listen!

13. Use yes sir, no sir, yes mam, no mam, Mr., Mrs., please and thank-you. It shows respect and the world needs more of it. I am always so pleased by the amount of respect I see teens at camp giving to adults and to each other.

14. Take a little time each day to reflect upon our wonderful country.  The flag raising and flag lowering ceremonies at camp are a site to behold. When you see 400 teens standing around the flag pole in absolute silence, reflecting on what it means to be an American it will give you a renewed since and hope for our country.

15. It is amazing who we become when we are put in a clean, powerful and positive environment: Expectations create amazing outcomes. At camp there is an expectation about how people behave, about how people interact and about how people work together. The expectation is that teens will be respectful, look out for each other and participate at a high level. That is exactly what happens, the run into sessions to fill the front rows, they get involved in the program, they interact with enthusiasm, and all of this leads to a great camp experience!

16. Send Happy Grams: Happy Grams are hand written notes given out to campers by campers, small group leaders, state officers and the staff. The rule of Happy Grams is that they are clean, powerful and positive and you can give one to anyone. It is amazing what a few simple words of encouragement can do to help us get through the challenges in our lives. The great thing about Happy Grams is that you don't need a yellow slip of paper to send one. You can send one anytime. You could write a short note today to someone you care about letting them know you noticed their kindness, attention to detail or thier smile. Try it! You don't need to be at camp to make a difference in someones life!

17. Give Thanks before each meal, and always thand the hands that prepared it and those that produced it.

18. Share your "Great Moments" and successes at the end of each day, and reflect upon what you can improve upon.

19. We are blessed to be a blessing to others: Yes, you heard it right...you are blessed to be a blessing! Be grateful that today you have an opportunity to help, encourage and support. The act of being a blessing for others blesses you!

20. Saying good-bye is never easy. The coolest part about camp is that campers don't want to go home. There are always tears on the last day of camp. It is often hard to say good-bye to new friends. People get close, relationships are forged and the way we know the experience was special is because of what we feel in our heart when it is time to go.

21. Keep your best friend with you at all times: It's kind of funny that at camp we always refer to our best friend as the notebook that we keep with us at all times, but there is really another message there. We should keep our best friend with us always, because even when they are not with us physically the friends that we make stay with us for a life time. They are with us in the memories of the struggles we shared and the laughs we had. Best friends are always in our hearts and that's why we go to camp.

To the 1600+ that attended the four sessions of camp this year. Thank-You! I was better than I should have been because of you. Thanks for laughing with me, thanks for getting involved and thanks for some great friendships! Remember to keep your best friend with you at all times and take a moment to connect with your friends at camp. I hope to see you next year!

To those who didn't go to camp. Maybe you got a piece of camp to take with you today. Keep the smile on your face and the love in your heart. If your reading this on Facebook, please leave a short comment, or addition!

Bill Cordes, The YOGOWYPI Guy

Leadership Must Be Intentional

That's my son on his cousins horse out in the Panhandle of Oklahoma. He talks about that horse, he wants me to get him a horse, he dreams about owning a horse and he hopes that I will get him a horse. Call me a dream stealer, but the likely-hood of me getting him a horse anytime soon is just about zero. It is just not practical for us and where we live for my son to have a horse. However, if hoping, dreaming, talking, wishing were enough we would all have all the stuff we want in the world. You and I know that it doesn't work that way. That being said, why do we hope, wish and talk about developing leaders in our schools without doing anything about it. Telling students..."you need to be a leader" will not make them a leader, yet I think that becomes the extent of the leadership training we give students in our schools, organizations and sports programs around the country. I am guilty! With my 6th grade sons basketball team I have been guilty of pulling him a side in key situations and telling him. "Everyone is going to respond to you the way you are responding...you need to step up and be a leader!" Think about it how many times have we expected, hoped, talked about and wished the leadership fairy would just show up and our schools would have leaders! Leadership development is a process, it is intentional and as we develop we need to continue to develop our leaders. It can be challenging! I think the moment school starts we expect the upper classmen to just show up as leaders to always do the right thing, to make good decisions, but we need to keep in mind that we need to have a process for developing young leaders because leaders need to be trained! HOW DO WE DO IT?

1. Take a look at what you did last year to develop school leadership. What did you do that intentionally developed leadership in your school? Ask yourself how effective was what I did?


2. Look at the number of leadership programs that are available to our athletes, organizational leaders, and community development programs. Ask yourself...Am I utilizing all of these initiatives.


3. Talk to other teachers, coaches, advisors and administrators about specific steps they have taken to develop leadership within their students and then ask them how effective was it and can we duplicate this in our school in other areas.


4. Host a leadership retreat that has specific objectives about what we want to accomplish. It is always a good idea to hire a professional leadership trainer that makes sure the message is engaging and informing.


5. What are the key character messages your leaders should be living? Then ask your students to discover strategies for teaching these lessons to younger students. It is amazing how much easier it is to make these messages a part of ourselves when we are teaching the lessons.


6. Break it down. Develop leaders by class. For instance, have a strategy for teaching different elements of leadership to different classes. Freshman have different needs than Seniors. Start looking at what types of leadership behaviors it would be good for the Freshman to get and the Seniors to model.


7. Have a strategy for rewarding leadership in your school. Reward respect, positive behaviors, sportsmanship, assisting others, volunteerism etc..


8. Record what works and then delegate those initiatives to others so you can continue to work on new leadership initiatives.

Remember, leadership is not a right of passage we don't just suddenly learn to lead. Leadership happens because we are intentional about teaching leadership in our communities.

Top 10 from Tulsa Union High School Retreat

As a professional speaker who speaks to over 70,000 people each year, I get the opportunity to teach a lot. I love the privilege of teaching, inspiring and all of the accolades that come from my profession. Every once in a while I walk away thinking I learned as much as I taught. This weekend was one of those weekends. I may get in trouble for saying this but Tulsa Union High School is one of the top large schools in the country. In a world that is filled with bad choices, drugs, violence and a lot of negativity they just seem to be doing things right. Oh, they have their challenges, they would be the first to tell you, but what they do in their school in regards to leadership is amazing! If you know anything about high school sports you may know a thing or two about Tulsa Union High School. They consistently do well in all sports, their football team has an amazing tradition in which they have set a first class standard of excellence. However it is my belief that their stellar sports program is a symptom of all the other things they are doing right. I spent 2 days with 200 hundred of their leaders. This is what I learned.

Top 10 Things I Learned at the Union High School Retreat

10. When faculty members just jump in and get involved with the students without having to be coaxed it makes a huge difference in the fun factor and the student learning. It also sends a message that this is so important and so much fun that everyone is getting involved!

9. Two days of hearing students talk positively about their school is refreshing and it gives me hope about the future of our education!

8. Students want to be involved in creating positive school environments and they need to be led there by powerful examples.

7. When mutual respect is a priority it becomes the norm.

6. When a school gives value to its' students those students will freely want to give back to their school.

5. Be humble. Don't seek credit for successful initiatives. We all got where we are today because ... We are all standing on the shoulders of giants.

4. When placed in a leadership role we need to inspect what we expect.

3. Positive leadership is not that complicated. It is not being the boss, or being in charge...Leadership is Service! When we lead with a humble heart and a willingness to give people what they need we will capture excellence.

2. Obstacles create opportunities to adjust. In this life we have reasons or results results are more powerful and more fun!

1. None of the above happens by accident. It all happens by design and by being purpose driven. Denise Vaniadis and the administrators and staff at Tulsa Union High School expect excellence and that is what happens daily at their school.