Play Your Position with Mary Lou Kayser

One of the best parts of my conversation with Steve Robertson this week (and there were many!) was hearing his deep insights into what makes Gen Z tick. "Young people have more in common with their international peers than they do with their parents," he reflects.

Gen Z is the generation coming after the Millennials (who are now entering their 30s and beginning to settle down). What are their concerns as they come of age in a highly digitized world? What are they most eager to learn? Who do they look up to and why? For any of us working with young people, building businesses, educating, and/or simply wondering how to engage a generation that sees things very differently than their Gen X parents and Baby Boomer grandparents, today’s PYP MVP Steve Robertson will give you the goods.

Steve is an expert on youth development and education as well as understanding and adapting to youth. His experience comes full circle from being the business leader and establishing the culture of the camp to helping the students in the programs prepare for their future careers. He is currently the CEO of Julian Krinsky Camps & Programs (JKCP), an organization specializing in youth-to-adult programming that turns curiosity into passion and skill. He has been with JKCP for 18 years, and as a result, he’s really got an inside edge about a population that will one day lead the world. In this role, his primary responsibility is to cultivate a culture that results in memories lasting a lifetime for their participants and staff. Steve oversees 20-plus programs and camps ranging from cooking and sports to pre-college academics and more- attracting participants from all over the world. JKCP partners together with highly esteemed institutions such as University of Pennsylvania, Yale University, Villanova University, and even the NFL!

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Direct download: PYP20Episode2011120-20Steve20Robertson.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:30am EDT

Andrea Jordan is a business strategist who is living a life many people dream of: seeing the world while working remotely. As a digital nomad, she is currently travelling throughout Latin America, enjoying the many sites this region of the world has to offer. She earns her living supporting creative entrepreneurs who want to live a life less ordinary, just like she’s doing. With a rare combination of expertise in corporate law and business coaching, together with a degree in accounting, this woman knows her stuff! When she’s not working with entrepreneurs, you can find her with a camera in hand capturing the beauty that she sees and volunteering at animal shelters. Be sure to follow her on Instagram to see the many spectacular photos she publishes there regularly. Ultimately, Andrea wants to live in a world where everyone looks forward to Mondays and living a creative life is the norm. I think many of us here at PYP heartily support that vision!      

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Direct download: PYP_Episode_109_-__Andrea_Jordan.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 11:38am EDT

Most of us have heard a variation of the popular Vince Lombardi quote:

"Winners never quit and quitters never win."

While that meme may have worked back in the mid 20th century when the world was very different, it’s not so relevant today.

Winners actually quit all the time, and here’s seven specific ways those quitters win:

  1. Quit holding on to the past. Mistakes. Coulda-shoulda-wouldas and the like are barriers keeping you from moving forward. Let go of what has already come and gone.
  2. Quit thinking you can’t do something. I get it. These days with the prevalence of online everything, it’s easy to compare ourselves to everyone else who seems to be doing so much better than we are in every category imaginable (e.g. health, wealth, relationship, career). Believe me, everyone is struggling in one way or another. You can do things if you decide those things are what you want, even if it seems scary or impossible. Do them anyway.
  3. Quit watching so much television/Netflix/sports/porn. See #6.
  4. Quit waiting for someone to give you permission. No one is coming to rescue you. No one is coming to say, “Hey, you’re the one we desperately need!” As Jim Rohn loved to say, “For things to change, you have to change.” That includes picking yourself to be the next whatever it is you want to be.
  5. Quit putting yourself down. Negative self-talk is the bane of human existence. The sooner you quit going dark on yourself, the sooner you will experience the spoils of the winner’s circle.
  6. Quit turning to over eating/drinking/shopping/gambling to escape from facing the truth about your life. They are tempting. At every turn, something promises to take away the pain of being human. The question here is, do you want to go through life numb and dumb? Or are you willing to accept that cuts, scrapes and bruises come with achievement and excellence?
  7. Quit thinking you can do it all yourself. You can’t. No one can. Figure out what you do best and hire the rest. This can be applied at work and at home. A predominantly DIY culture grounded in two very powerful principles called self-reliance and independence makes us believe we are losers if we can’t announce at the next dinner party that we did it all ourselves. I don’t know about you, but I’d much rather be handing out business cards of my caterer than rushing around trying to restock the crudite plate or refill wine glass.

Quitters win every day. You can often see them sipping champagne from their yachts as they sail yet again around the Mediterranean.

Isn’t it about time you stepped into the quitter's circle, too? Quit something today! It's amazing what can happen when you do.

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Direct download: PYP_Quitters_Win_mixdown.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:41pm EDT

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