Stedman Graham is chairman and CEO of S. Graham & Associates, a consulting firm specializing in the corporate and educational markets. As a sought-out speaker and lecturer, Stedman Graham has authored a number of books including two New York Times bestsellers, including You Can Make It Happen: A Nine-Step Plan for Success. Two years after his first interview, Suite101 sat down with Graham again for an exclusive more personal look at the successful entrepreneur and his Nine Step Success Process.
Success through Self-awareness
Graham shared with Suite101 how he applies the nine step principles to his personal life. The first step in the Nine Step Process, what Graham calls “the foundation,” is to “Check your ID.” The message is simple: before one can decide what he or she wants out of life, one must first determine their identity by understanding personal influences and thinking patterns. “Self-awareness is where success begins,” Graham says. “It’s difficult to understand the world and how you respond to it until you first know yourself.”
Suite101 asked Graham what he saw when he first checked his ID and what he sees today. “When I first looked at myself I realized that I wasn’t prepared and I didn’t live in the 21st century. I wasn’t relevant,” Graham explains. “I was green. You think you know but you really don’t know. When you don’t have the guidance and intervention you learn the hard way. I learned by mistakes, through experience and by watching people.”
Graham explains that he was quiet enough to observe others and developed good instincts to understand what was relevant and what wasn’t. “I knew what was right and what was wrong,” he says. “I was fortunate that I was in a space where I had mentors and business people I worked for that challenged me in the marketplace. I had to swim and it helped me to get there a little faster.”
Success Through Self-Leadership
Graham emphasizes that success doesn’t come at random. One can’t get there if the principles of how it works are not understood. One has to learn to develop a discipline for self-leadership. Today, he teaches what he has come to know. As he continues to speak, the passion in his voice is undeniable. He truly believes in helping people turn their lives around and move toward success.
For Graham it is not about race or background. It is not about being a woman living in a man’s world. “It’s not about where you come from but it’s really about your ability to lead and your leadership qualities,” he says. “It’s about your discipline, your learning habits, about your content, your experience, about your exposure, people you come in contact with who can help you out, about your mentors, about your determination and perseverance. It’s about all those things that won’t let you quit and not let you get comfortable.”
For Graham, being able to teach people to create a vision for themselves is a constant learning process in a world that is ever changing. “You have to read a lot, get content, and make it relevant to you. That’s who I am now,” he says.
“This way, I am able to get beyond the 6.5 billion people who are stuck in the box doing the same thing every single day not going anywhere because they don’t have any intervention or process of developing themselves. Most people are not even conscious of it. For me to be a conscious participant all the time, accessing my talents and passions so I can grow beyond the box that I am in every day, is to have self leadership.”
Success Through Opportunities in a Diverse Marketplace
As a successful business man and leader in his field, one has to seek out opportunities for growth to stay competitive and continue to soar. Suite101 asked Graham which of his nine steps continue to challenge him in his own life and why.
Graham asserts that reinventing himself and not getting stuck in one place is one of the challenges he faces. “You have to be able to create diversification in your life. Realizing that you are in a diverse marketplace, you have to have a menu of things that you can do. There is a saying that success happens when preparation meets opportunity. I have to be prepared. And as the market changes I have to adapt accordingly, make adjustments and be flexible.”
Graham stays ahead of the curve by knowing where he wants and needs to be in five or even 10 years. “Things are changing, we live longer, bills get higher, and wages are lower. Young people today often have to move back home after school. They use social media to talk a lot about things but often nothing gets developed. They don’t build long-term relationships anymore. And they don’t have control over their lives.”
Graham continues to stress that creating successful opportunities in a diverse marketplace results from a clear understanding of what choices one needs to make in order to be able to be competitive in the workforce and also just to be able to take care of oneself long term.
Graham’s consulting practice and education programs help individuals and businesses develop the tools to excel personally and professionally and achieve life success. His international work spans to Canada, Mexico, South Africa, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Bermuda, Germany, Mexico and Aruba. For more on Stedman Graham, read Identity Passport to Freedom or Stedman Graham Guides Women to Success.
Britta Stromeyer Esmail - Britta is a bilingual business management professional and executive coach with extensive domestic and international experience in the ...
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