What started as a compelled feeling to lend our (young professionals) knowledge and wisdom to tomorrow’s leaders, turned to be a great inaugural program for the CLIMB Youth Leadership Institute.

In CLIMB’s journey of service, there are simultaneous efforts that occur during the various activities and operations: efforts to showcase what we do, efforts to seek out more volunteers, efforts to attract funders, etc.

With that said, after being introduced to Ira McAliley (Tight Spots Media) through Curtis Jewell (President & CEO of MyCypher.com), we were excited to finally capture [through video form] a portion of our work and be able to show our many supporters/potential funders a glimpse of CLIMB in action.

Lastly, I ask that you please help spread the word and efforts of CLIMB, by simply reposting the video link (here), adding to your facebook profile, or any other form of broadcasting. We thank you in advance and always encourage you to get involved, join the CLIMB.

Keith Ferrazzi Presents Who’s Got Your Back: The breakthrough program to build deep trusting relationships that create success - and won’t let you fail

Disregard the myth of the lone professional “superman” and the rest of our culture’s go-it alone mentality. The real path to success in your work and in your life is through creating an inner circle of “lifeline relationships” - deep, close relationships with a few key trusted individuals who will offer the encouragement, feedback, and generous mutual support every one of us needs to reach our full potential. Whether your dream is to lead your own company, move up the corporate ladder, overcome the self-destructive habits that hold you back, or make a difference in the larger world, Who’s Got Your Back will give you the roadmap you’ve been looking for to achieve the success you deserve.

Keith Ferrazzi, the internationally renowned thought leader, consultant, and bestselling author of Never Eat Alone, shows us that becoming a winner in any field of endeavor requires a trusted team of advisors who can offer guidance and help to hold us accountable to achieving our goals. It is the reason PH.D candidates have advisor teams, top executives have boards, world class athletes have fitness coaches, and presidents have cabinets.

In his Who’s Got Your Back keynote, Keith will introduce you to his 9-step program for building the ultimate team-based success strategy - in fact, he will help start putting the principles and tactics into practice, right in the room.

The keynote is an interactive, transformative experience for sustainable change. In the first part of the 60-minute talk, Keith leads participants through a series of exercises to shift their mindsets from isolation to connection.

This creates the foundation for two powerful tools for personal and professional excellence: candor and accountability, the keys to identifying problems, developing creative solutions, and then sticking to plans for follow through.

Ferrazzi then introduces the Who’s Got Your Back roadmap for building and creating a core group of lifeline relationships, including:

• A process to identify and strengthen bonds with lifeline candidates - those who have the potential to “get it and care”
• A team-based format for refining goals and workplans
• Tools to identify and overcome career-crippling bad habits
• Keys to sustaining a commitment to excellence and growth over time
• A commitment to lower our guards and let others help

None of us can do it alone. We need the perspective and advice of a trusted team. And in Who’s Got Your Back, Keith Ferrazzi shows us how to put our own “dream team” together.

Click here to Register for Workshop | Click here to Purchase Book

Source: thanks to my good buddy Aaron Gray (Harvard Business School ‘09) for the mention

Pictured above: CLIMB Youth Leadership Institute visit to the California African-American Museum (CAAM) as Part II in a learning session on Flexibility and Empathy (photo by Zsanae)

The CLIMB Youth Leadership Institute (CYLI), developed by Tiffani Saxton (Program Coordinator) and Ray Cahill (CLIMB VP), is designed to promote and cultivate leadership skills in 6th, 7th, and 8th graders through workshops, self-exploration, and service.

As we head into the 6th week, we are elated to see the great response and feedback from the community as we continue to lend programs within the realm of youth development and mentorship. Through exposure to a wide-array of young progressionals as well as various interactive learning techniques, CLIMB is determined to make a difference in our community, servicing the at-risk youth.

The program consist of 40 minority students from 8 different middle schools from Inglewood and South LA. It has been our challenge to continue to motivate the students, maintain their participation, and work to assess their need and CLIMB’s effectiveness; what once was a sheer idea, became a reality with the blessing of a partnership with the University of Southern California (Marshall School of Business).

Fast forward through countless meetings, curriculum development, research, and student outreach, the CYLI was blessed to have 50+ young professionals “step to the plate” and not only talk the talk, but walk the walk. Introduced to the program in the 1st Quarter General Body Meeting, many of the CLIMB supporters were compelled to lend their time and knowledge to the vision of the youth leadership program: week by week, the diverse group of volunteers construct and deliver lectures, presentations, and interactive activities to help teach + motivate the students to be future leaders!

As the program enters the second half, the volunteer staff will work with the students to develop presentations that will help to sharpen their public speaking skills as they highlight a [selected] business/community leader. Once completed, the students will take part in a culmination and acknowledged as CLIMB Ambassadors and be challenged to display leadership skills in the classroom and in their community. 

The CLIMB Youth Leadership Institute is a true testament to the model and method of service that aligns with the vision of the organization: change through exposure, developing relationships, and being an influence to the at-risk youth. Although CLIMB is active with various community initiatives, the core programs shows the potential of what we can do as young professionals when we aim to make a difference. It is my true belief that young professionals (primarily the “educated” population) are the greatest asset to the community…and with that, it is my purpose to create such a vehicle that allows for that demographic of people to lend their time, knowledge, and resources to our very own community: send the elevator back down.

This is only a slice of the solution, a few steps in the ultimate journey, and we shall continue to CLIMB!

One of the most telling things about this journey called life is The Playoffs. In this part of the season/life, it is what separates those who are serious from those who are just playing / those who are talking from those who are walking / the ideas from the execution.

In life, we must aim high and truly value The Playoffs. Fear itself prevents majority of us from participating in The Playoffs. For all of us, The Playoffs can be different challenges and milestones in life, but all in all we must embrace The Playoffs.

The Playoffs define you, it gives you perspective as to your hard work, your plan, and your execution. I truly live for The Playoffs. I continue to push myself to DO MORE, push the limits, no fear of trying new things and overperforming: it builds character. Although your story will be reflective of your journey, your name will be most determined by how you performed in The Playoffs…were you able to overcome adversity? did you get over the hump? were you able to gel with your teammates (read: co-workers, business partners, husband/wife, etc)? 

I challenge everyone [including myself] to embrace The Playoffs, let’s all aim for the top and continue to raise the bar. I heard a wise man once say, your dreams should exceed your potential.

Moral of the story: Go Lakers!

My role is to influence.

My challenge is to bring our story and our service to the desk of those who are looking to get involved, those who are looking to support, those who have questions, those who are hesitant, those who have interest in donating, etc.

This (CLIMB) is all organic. It derived from a collective group of young professionals (read: typnetwork) that shared a vested interest in the community…and therefore the mission is simple: send the elevator back down.

As seen in the video above, Mr. William Bradley III (FICS/BOS) has stepped to the plate and been a blessing to CLIMB; here, he leads a presentation on the theme Organization, as it relates to leadership.

The CLIMB Youth Leadership Institute (CYLI) is designed to promote and cultivate leadership skills in 6th, 7th, and 8th graders through workshops, self-exploration, and service.

CLIMB is currently in overdrive.

On Saturday, March 21st, I shall embark on a journey of self-assessment and finding purpose. For starters, I will participate in a day-long workshop engineered by a good friend and business colleague of mine (introduced by JaMaar Everett), Mr. Jullien Gordon: the purpose finder. Jullien has identified his purpose as “helping as many people in the world find their purpose”. (that’s the WHAT) // The HOW? He has developed a new venture and workshop series traveling around the country administering the Driving School for Life: www.drivingschoolforlife.com | Jullien Gordon’s 2009 License To Live Tour

Driving School for Life is a one-day motivational experience designed for anyone who wants to leave their mark on the world, especially career transitioners, students, and entrepreneurs.

The day consists of thought-provoking group activities, discussions, and writing exercises to develop your passions and align them with your life purpose and profession. Participants gain insight about themselves and develop a personal vision and strategy to realize their dreams.

With that said, I’m beyond excited to sit amongst thought-leaders, progressive-thinkers, creatives, and young leaders as we share experiences and help one another in this journey called LIFE. The main thing I am considering is “what do I want to get out of this workshop?”…after drawn out thought, I think the main thing(s) I want to get out of the workshop is identifying the HOW. I’m almost certain about my purpose (connecting the progressive + serving the at-risk community), so I’m more interested/focused on the HOW: how to grow influence in the community? how to encourage potential funders? how to connect all of the dots (leveraging capitals)? etc.

All in all, this shall be an interesting experience and again, I’m anxious to take part in it. Stay tuned…

By Asher Mathew

There is no single book that covers all that we need to know to succeed in Corporate America, but no matter which facet of Corporate America you are involved in there are guidelines to build a career centered on respect and integrity. My favorite set of guidelines was articulated by Kwame Jackson, runner-up on the first and best season of The Apprentice. Following are some lessons from the boardroom by Kwame Jackson slightly modified by my experience:

1. NO FEAR

    - Look people in their eyes when you speak to them. There is no reason to fear someone because of status and/or title. Looking at them sets a tone of mutual respect that will go along way in communicating self-confidence.

2. BE ACCOUNTABLE

   - Don’t twist the truth. If you messed up dont hide the events, talk about them as they happened and explain your judgement, you will be forgiven (maybe not in the way you expect). It is easier to ask for forgiveness than permission.

3. NEVER FORGET THE TEAM

    - Business, Family, Friends…know who got you here and thank them. 

   - Back people up and spread the credit, not the blame. One of the best ways to build lasting relationships and demostrate true leadership is to make other people shine, there is no greater satisfaction in life than to help someone get to where they want to be.

4. TAKE CALCULATED RISK - “Wait for your pitch!” 

    - Go with your gut, and have the logic train to back it up. I am a firm believer of using logic to understand all possible outomes of a situation but taking the one that your gut feeling drives you to. 

    - Don’t be afraid to go for what you want! You only live once so why not shoot for the stars. 

5. STRAIGHT TALK - “CANDID DIPLOMACY”

    - Call them like you see them! Ofcourse choice of words is important to deliver good/bad news, but never sugarcoat the intensity of the situation.  

6. BE YOURSELF

    - I hate fake people!

    - Do what’s important to you, not anyone else

    - Prove things to yourself, not anyone else

7. LEADERS ARE NOT ALWAYS OUT IN FRONT 

    - Play your position..identify your strengths and weaknesses and act accordingly 

8. KNOW WHEN TO SHUT UP

    - Two ears and one mouth, use them in proportion…definitely from Sales 101

    - Listen, Observe, Process, Act…

9. PLAN YOUR WORK & WORK YOUR PLAN

    - Have a road map..time and again I have planned a generic road map, it is good to have both short term and long term goals but even more important to understand that live will bring your surprises so be prepared and know that hope is not a strategy.

    - Get smart people, smarter than you, put them in the right place, and get the hell out of the way. A simple management technique.

    - Know what you want out of life…this probably is the most important lesson, knowing what you want shapes who you are and what you’ll be…

10. STAY POSITIVE & PERSEVERE

    - Life is not what happens to you but how you react…

    - Where God closes a door, he opens a window, just look for the draft…have faith!

Video Links:

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-6hxgbatnA

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRXA5AnpNAQ

Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4kyaoLTW_k

I hope this serves as a basic foundation for success not just in Coporate America but Life.

by Jullien Gordon

Attracting and Retaining Great People

Two dedicated team members is better than five dedicated team members and and one undedicated one. Undedicated people have the ability to kill the productivity of everyone on the team to their level of dead-ication. They may have been committed in the beginning, but over time, things change and people change and their commitment to the vision may not be as strong for whatever reason.

It’s nothing personal to give them the boot, but the CEO must always remember that the vision is more important than any individual while at the same time recognizing that his/her team is the most valuable thing to that vision. People tend to join organizations for one or more of three reasons: the vision, the team, the technology.

Continue Reading »

As I continue to navigate down the path of community change through the vehicle of CLIMB, we constantly partner and build relationships with like-agencies as well as individuals/companies looking to be a part of the solution.

I recall in 2005 when I first set out to start the organization and began constructing the strategy/vision, I had a short-list of individuals, companies, and organizations that I reached out to with intentions of creating youth programs and sustaining relationships that will position CLIMB as a part of the “solution”. On this list, there was a particular organization spearheaded by the USC Football Coach Pete Carroll: A Better LA. Impressed by his community awareness and action, I have since then developed a relationship that in due time will reflect a shared interest in community service.

Just recently, Pete Carroll was featured on 60 Minutes (CBS): highlighting not only his success on the field, but also his involvment in the surrounding South LA community.