The Future of your Future is Servant Leadership | Anthony Perez | TEDxColoradoSprings

Summary

The speaker, a former Navy rescue swimmer, recounts his challenging journey of learning essential skills at a young age. He emphasizes the importance of physical fitness, mental toughness, and deliberate practice in mastering tasks. Drawing parallels to life, he discusses how we often recognize our growth opportunities through challenging circumstances. The speech advocates for servant-leadership, highlighting the need for genuine connection, active listening, and empathy in today's digital age. The speaker challenges the audience to improve their individual commitment to group efforts, suggesting that the future relies on our ability to balance new technologies with traditional human values.

Takeaways

• 🏊‍♂️ The importance of physical fitness, mental toughness, and swimming skills for a Navy rescue swimmer.
• 👓 The realization of a lack of knowledge in using dive gear and the necessity to quickly learn these skills.
• 📈 The need for deliberate practice to develop essential abilities for achieving goals.
• 🌱 Growth opportunities often arise from challenging circumstances that reveal our deficiencies.
• 🏋️‍♂️ The comparison of life's challenges to physical training, emphasizing the need for targeted effort.
• 🤝 The concept that individual commitment to a group effort is crucial for a team's success.
• 🔮 The uncertainty of the future and the multitude of potential societal changes that could occur.
• 🌐 The call to re-embrace human connection and relationships in a digital age.
• 🛠️ The idea that servant-leadership is key to positive transformation in society and personal growth.
• 👂 The significance of active listening and empathy in leadership and personal relationships.
• 🌟 The challenge to improve individual commitment to better support and serve others.

Q & A

What year did the speaker join the Navy?

The speaker joined the Navy in 1990.

What was the speaker's age when he joined the Navy?

The speaker was about 20 years old when he joined the Navy.

What was the unexpected task the speaker's chief asked him to do?

The speaker's chief asked him to jump into the ocean and deal with bad situations without giving much detail.

What was the first realization the speaker had about the Navy rescue swimmer school?

The speaker realized that he needed to be physically fit, mentally tough, and a great swimmer to complete the course.

What was the main deficiency the speaker identified in his swimming skills during the training?

The speaker's main deficiency was his lack of experience with dive gear and not knowing how to properly clear his mask.

How did the speaker prepare to overcome his deficiency in using dive gear?

The speaker spent extra time practicing with the help of his teammates to learn how to clear his mask and use the dive gear effectively.

What is the main similarity the speaker draws between the Navy rescue swimmer school and life?

The speaker draws a similarity in that both situations present growth opportunities that become apparent only when faced with specific challenges.

What is the concept of 'servant-leadership' as discussed by the speaker?

Servant-leadership is a long-term, transformational approach towards life and work that focuses on creating positive change, helping others achieve success, and being significant over personal success.

Why does the speaker believe society should fall in love again with the human element?

The speaker believes society should fall in love again with the human element because of the disconnection and lack of genuine relationships in the digital age.

What is the speaker's view on the future?

The speaker views the future as one that depends on servant-leadership and a return to valuing human connections and relationships.

What is the challenge the speaker issues at the end of the script?

The speaker challenges the audience to improve their individual commitment to those they support and serve.

Outlines

00:00

🏊‍♂️ Overcoming Challenges in Navy Rescue Swimmer School

The speaker reflects on his experience as a young sailor in 1990, when he was asked to join the Navy rescue swimmer school. Despite being physically fit and mentally tough, he faced a significant challenge in mastering the use of dive gear, particularly in mask clearing. His lack of experience with swim gear became apparent during pool conditioning exercises. The speaker emphasizes the importance of recognizing growth opportunities and the necessity of deliberate practice to develop essential skills. He shares how he had to spend extra time learning to clear his mask properly to meet the expectations of the training. The narrative highlights the value of individual commitment to personal development and teamwork, suggesting that these are crucial for achieving goals and moving forward in life.

05:03

🌟 The Future and the Importance of Servant-Leadership

In this paragraph, the speaker contemplates the future and the various uncertainties it holds, such as education reform, job creation, financial crises, and social equality. He suggests that regardless of the future's specifics, the common factor is humanity. The speaker advocates for servant-leadership as a key element for navigating the future. He discusses the ease with which one can become an 'expert' through access to information and the paradox of technological progress leading to a decline in genuine human interaction. The speaker calls for a reset in how we build relationships and establish trust, emphasizing the need for quality over quantity in connections. He defines servant-leadership as a long-term, transformational approach focused on creating positive change, giving more than receiving, and being significant rather than just successful. The speaker challenges the audience to consider how servant-leadership principles can be integrated into their lives to better serve their communities and prepare the next generation.

10:04

🤝 The Power of Influence and Active Listening in Servant Leadership

The speaker delves into the concept of servant leadership, asserting that it's not about perfection but striving for excellence and being a role model. He discusses the impact of one's environment and the importance of shaping and being shaped by positive influences. The speaker emphasizes the role of servant leadership in increasing one's influence and the qualities that define it, such as active listening and empathy. He shares the idea of moving from an 'open-door' policy to an 'open-air' policy, suggesting a more transparent and empathetic approach to relationships. The speaker also touches on the importance of being present, taking responsibility, and understanding the value of gratitude and respect in human interactions. He concludes by stressing the need for personal growth through learning and implementing servant leadership principles to inspire and support others effectively.

15:06

💪 Commitment to Teamwork and Personal Growth

In the final paragraph, the speaker issues a challenge to the audience to improve their individual commitment to those they support and serve. He reiterates the importance of teamwork and the role of each person's dedication in achieving collective goals. The speaker reflects on his talk, hoping to have made a meaningful connection with the audience and to have inspired them to consider the principles of servant leadership in their own lives. He ends with a light-hearted reference to the Cubs, wishing the audience an enjoyable conference and weekend.

Keywords

💡Navy Rescue Swimmer School

Navy Rescue Swimmer School refers to a rigorous training program for members of the United States Navy who aspire to become rescue swimmers. It involves physical fitness, mental toughness, and advanced swimming skills. In the script, the speaker reflects on his experience at the school, highlighting the critical skills needed to succeed, such as physical fitness, mental toughness, and the ability to swim with dive gear. His challenge in learning to clear his mask is a key example of the specific skills acquired during this training.

💡Physical Fitness

Physical fitness is the ability to perform daily tasks with vigor and alertness, without undue fatigue, and with ample energy to enjoy leisure-time activities and respond to emergencies. The script emphasizes the importance of physical fitness as one of the three essential skill sets required for the Navy Rescue Swimmer School. The speaker's readiness to undertake the physically demanding tasks is indicative of the level of fitness required.

💡Mental Toughness

Mental toughness is the ability to remain positive and effective in challenging situations. It is characterized by determination, commitment, and a strong desire to achieve success despite obstacles. In the context of the script, mental toughness is one of the critical skills that the speaker had to cultivate, which allowed him to persevere through the difficult training and complete the course.

💡Deliberate Practice

Deliberate practice is a purposeful and systematic approach to improving performance in a specific area by focusing on specific tasks and continually striving for improvement. The speaker mentions deliberate practice when discussing how he had to spend extra time learning to clear his mask properly, which was crucial for his success in the Navy Rescue Swimmer School.

💡Growth Opportunities

Growth opportunities refer to situations or experiences that present the chance for personal or professional development. The speaker discusses how being in challenging circumstances made him aware of the need for certain abilities and skills, which are growth opportunities. These opportunities are what drive personal development and learning.

💡Servant-Leadership

Servant-leadership is a leadership philosophy in which the main goal of the leader is to serve others, especially the team, rather than the more traditional view of leadership where the main goal is to lead others. The speaker emphasizes the importance of servant-leadership as a guiding principle for the future, suggesting that leaders should prioritize the needs of others and focus on creating positive change.

💡Individual Commitment

Individual commitment refers to the dedication and effort one person puts into achieving a goal, especially when it contributes to a larger group effort. The speaker talks about his individual commitment to develop essential skills and to help his team reach their goals, which is a theme that resonates throughout the script as a key component of success in any endeavor.

💡Active Listening

Active listening is the ability to fully concentrate, understand, respond, and then remember what is being said. It is about truly hearing another person and responding thoughtfully. The speaker mentions the importance of being a great listener in the context of servant-leadership, suggesting that truly hearing others is a critical skill for leaders.

💡Empathy

Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. It involves recognizing another person's emotions and responding with compassion and understanding. The speaker discusses the need for empathy, particularly in the context of servant-leadership, where leaders must connect with others on an emotional level to effectively serve them.

💡Influence

Influence is the capacity to have an effect on someone or something. In the script, the speaker discusses how understanding and practicing servant-leadership can increase one's influence, which in turn can lead to greater effectiveness in leadership roles. He suggests that by being a servant first, one can become a more impactful leader.

💡Personal Growth

Personal growth refers to the process of enhancing one's skills, abilities, and understanding. The speaker talks about personal growth in the context of servant-leadership, emphasizing that leaders must continually strive to improve themselves in order to better serve others. He suggests that personal growth is a lifelong journey that involves learning and applying new knowledge.

Highlights

The speaker joined the Navy at 20 years old in San Diego, highlighting the importance of physical fitness, mental toughness, and swimming skills.

The Navy rescue swimmer school emphasized the necessity of mastering essential skills like clearing a dive mask.

The speaker had to quickly learn to use dive gear, illustrating the steep learning curve faced by many in new challenges.

The importance of deliberate practice was underscored, as the speaker had to improve his swimming skills to meet the course requirements.

The concept of individual commitment to a group effort was introduced, highlighting the need for teamwork.

The future was discussed as uncertain, with various possibilities such as education reform, job creation, financial crises, or social equality.

The speaker advocated for servant-leadership, a leadership style that prioritizes service to others over personal success.

The need for a balance between using modern technology and maintaining traditional relationship-building skills was highlighted.

The importance of active listening and empathy in leadership was emphasized, suggesting that leaders should be good listeners and understand others' experiences.

The speaker discussed the idea of being present in the moment, suggesting that people should focus on real-life interactions rather than being distracted by devices.

The concept of servant leadership includes understanding responsibility and the necessity of sacrifice for change.

The speaker challenged the audience to improve their individual commitment to supporting and serving others.

The importance of being a student in the process of personal growth and implementing what is learned into one's life was discussed.

The speaker encouraged the audience to be examples to others and to inspire them through their actions and beliefs.

The value of being a good listener and the impact of capturing someone's heart through sincere service was highlighted.

The speaker concluded by challenging the audience to reflect on how they can improve their commitment to others in their personal and professional lives.

Transcripts

you know it was 1990 and I was stationed

in Navy I was in San Diego any Navy

people all right - all right right I was

in the Navy and I was about 20 years old

and and my chief asked me this question

he said hey Perez how would you like to

be the guy that jumps into the ocean and

bad things happen he didn't tell me much

more and I was 20 and I didn't really

ask a lot of questions I think my

response was cool so I didn't really

know what was I was getting into I I

went on to to the command to check in

for the course and I didn't know what

was expected of me I did gather that

swimming was involved right it was a

Navy rescue swimmer school and so in the

first couple days what happened was it

became very clear to me there were three

critical essential skill sets that one

needed to be able to accomplish this

this course you needed to be physically

fit which I was and he needed to be

mentally tough which I still have and

you you needed to be a great swimmer now

here's the thing I'm not saying that I

couldn't swim I was okay my big

challenge though was um I never really

used swim gear before dive gear there

was a huge learning curve for me and one

of my deficiencies my main deficiency

was brought to my attention in our

second day of training in pool

conditioning see when you get there they

take your gear they throw it at the deep

end and they say go fetch you go down

you sit on the bottom of the pool you

put your gear on correctly and then you

come up now here's the thing when you

come up you're supposed to clear your

mask and then you raise your hand pretty

simple here's a challenge have you ever

had a problem that you're trying to

solve and in order to solve it all you

do you just simply need to use a

specific tool your challenge though is

you don't know the tool

let alone know how to use it see when he

said clear your mask I didn't know what

he was talking about and let alone know

how to do it properly so he kind of took

me to the side in a very loving

nurturing way like they are and brought

it to my attention son we're starting in

the pool tomorrow morning you need to

show us you know what you're doing with

with this simple task otherwise we're

sending you on your way to your command

you're sending you home so while

everybody else was rested up I got to

hang out with a couple of my team

members and they are they taught me how

to clear my naps during the course I had

to put a lot of deliberate special time

on my own to develop the abilities that

I needed to achieve my goal so you look

back at that experience and it runs with

it it's a lot like life for us a lot of

times we're not aware of the fact that

we have growth opportunities in our

lives until we find ourselves in a

certain circumstance or a situation it's

the circumstance of the situation that

makes us aware of a certain ability or

skill or an awareness or an

understanding that we need to achieve in

order for us to move forward the other

thing is do you know how you get good at

swimming by swimming see is that about

running for miles and it's not about

doing push-ups for hours the only way

you get good at swimming is by swimming

so not only do we find ourselves in

circumstances a situation at awaken us

but sometimes we need to be very

deliberate and intentional with our time

and effort in certain areas to achieve

the abilities needed for us to achieve

our outcomes are you with me right

individual commitment to a group effort

that's what makes a team work my

individual commitment to myself at that

time was to develop the essential skills

I needed to reach my goal my commitment

to my team was to help them reach their

goal

we all have groups and individuals that

we offer our individual commitment of

support and service to in our person

our professional lives for us to move

forward into the future we need to look

at how can we improve that individual

commitment to be able to better support

and serve each other when I saw the

theme the future of the future well a

couple things stood out to me I'm not

somebody that has special powers I can't

read into the future I knew that I don't

have a really cool car to turn into a

time machine and also as I was thinking

about it I realize that there's a lot of

ideas that could be on that menu of

conversation of what the future holds

for us it really depends on who's

weighing in on the conversation is it

education reform is it is it job

creation is it another financial crisis

is it is it that maybe maybe our nation

we finally get it together and we truly

do celebrate each other's differences as

my friend chris said this morning you

know what equality really does become a

reality for us and not just a wonderful

topic piece of conversation or maybe

maybe we go the other route and we see

more and more examples of inequality and

injustice in our country is it

immigration reform is it more terror sex

I don't know if there's a right answer

but I believe there's a variable to the

equation that we as a society need to

fall in love again with the human

element whatever the future holds for us

is one common denominator us so when I

thought about it for me the future the

future is servant-leadership see we are

all given the opportunities every day we

could be experts on any given topic in

as little as a weekend we have so many

resources at our fingertips that it's

overwhelming we've seen breakthroughs in

medicine in science and education a 21st

century has afforded uni wonderful

opportunities we can hold the vast world

that we live in in the palm of our hand

and as wonderful as that is I feel we've

taken two or three steps back in how we

interact with one another

we view one another how we treat one

another right every day we're posted and

we're liking and you're tweeting and

you're making connection and somebody

just added you to their circles but are

they quality are they real perhaps we

need to hit the reset button and

evaluate how balanced we are living

between new 21st century tools that

allow us to navigate and get things done

in our new world but yet also be true

and respect the old-school ideas of how

we built relationships and establish

trust and understand that when you click

the accept button it just does not

reward you with the same benefit that a

handshake does relationships are harder

harder we see it in schools we see it in

our youth and that's why servant

leadership is so important for us as a

society to get a fundamental

understanding about so we can move

forward to understand how is it relevant

to us as individuals and in our

community how do we implement some of

those qualities into our lives so we can

train those that are coming up behind us

to prepare them for career and for life

servant leadership is about a long-term

transformational approach towards life

towards work it's about creating

positive change in your community

positive change in the lives of somebody

else it's about making a difference to

give more than you receive to help

someone else achieve success help an

organization achieve success be focused

on being significant over achieving

personal success and you know what as

elementary as those ideas are I fear

that our society is moving further and

further away from those core principles

and unfortunately we're given examples

every day of people in decision making

roles by their actions by the words we

see examples of distrust we see people

being devalued a total disregard of

people's needs and their wants and their

desires the same people that these

leaders are supposed to be serving

Robert Greenleaf taught us that good

leaders must first become good

servants in a day and age of social

media we're all given opportunity to

create a platform to join in a

conversation share our ideas our message

and the platform allows us to be seen as

experts and leaders maybe even

celebrities I find it interesting as I

go and I talk with people and I say

listen if you had the opportunity invest

time and money and you could develop

some leadership skills how many would be

on board with that and the hands go oh

leadership and when I say well what

about investing time and money to

improve how you are as a servant well

not so much and what's interesting about

that is when you study leadership when

you study great leaders what you find is

all that great leaders ever do is know

how to serve their people you can't be

one without the other every day you and

I are given opportunities to extend our

hand and help people get better to lift

them up the question is do people let

you help them because they have to or do

people let you help them because they

want to people want to let you help them

when they know you're sincere about

really wanting them to achieve success

people want to let you help them when

they see you as an example of what can

be that they see you being in alignment

with your beliefs and your values is

everybody going to want our help no but

as individuals we have to see our weed

being the very best example to those

that we do connect with that we we do

have relationships with it's not about

being perfect and living a perfect life

I fall short every day as a leader as a

dad as a husband I have childlike

tendencies but I strive for excellence

to achieve greatness and hopefully

maintain it we've all heard that we're

all products of our environment and I

strongly disagree with that I believe

that we are products of the influences

in our environment so the question is

who shaped your world and whose world

are you shaping and how are you shaping

it dr. John C max what teaches us when

you increase your influence you increase

your leadership understanding what

servant leadership is allows us to

increase our influence

with those that we support and we serve

it understanding the qualities it allows

us to understand what qualities go into

that that we can we could hold on to two

or three and say you know what these two

these two right here if I mean if I'm

intentional and deliberate in improving

those two areas in my life and I could

go from good to great in these two areas

how much better would I be for my family

how much better could I serve my

community how much better would our

future be if we all could identify two

or three areas to improve servant

leadership is about understanding how

important it is to be a great listener

you want to really know let somebody

know how much you value them how much

they mean to you we all have room for

improvement in the area of our active

listening skills I was at a training

last week and a speaker talked about the

idea of we all understand the open-door

policy but we need to embrace the open

air policy it's about empathy we all

have room for improvement in the area of

empathy myself included but it's not

just about going I know what you're

going through it's about us being humble

and vulnerable enough to say I know what

you're going through because I've gone

through something too I'm going through

something right now it's about

understanding how to extend your hand

because healing starts when two people

come together we've all been through

something and we know how powerful it is

when people come together healing starts

with that human connection it's about

being present in the moment increasing

our awareness in ourselves in others in

our community we've all been at dinner

and we've seen the family sitting at

dinner where there's no conversation

there is no dialogue because everybody's

got their face plastered in their little

devices yes everybody's so concerned

that they're missing out on something

out there somewhere else with somebody

and it's not even real and what what

they're really missing out on is the

power a conversation in the stimulation

of new ideas

creating memories sometimes it's okay

for us to be in the moment and just keep

it for ourselves we don't have to share

everything with the world it's about

understanding responsibility take

sacrifice but it's that sacrifice it's

non-negotiable for us to see the changes

that we want it's about understanding

that you know what whatever happened to

thank you and please when did we become

so entitled

and so preoccupied and where

everything's an inconvenience that we

can appreciate one another and see one

another for who we are human beings

servant leadership is understanding that

you are a student in the process and

personal growth but what's more

important and personal growth is what

you're doing with what you learn how do

you implement what you learn into your

life how are you sharing it with other

people and inspiring them and being an

example see there is a reason why people

get personal trainers and coaches and

instructors we want to be shown how to

do it the right way and we want to be

challenged to be our very best the

future depends on us understanding that

for us to increase our how we support

one another and how we connect with one

another it starts here and when you

understand what servant leadership is

that helps you understand how to connect

with somebody where it matters most it's

been said that when you capture their

heart you capture their mind and I hope

today with my small amount of time I was

able to do that today

capture your heart for a little bit in

order to capture mine I leave you with

the challenge individual commitment to a

group effort that's what makes a team

work here's my challenge folks how are

you going to improve your individual

commitment to those that you support and

that you serve in 2016 Colorado Springs

I thank you for your time I hope you

have a wonderful conference enjoy your

weekend go Cubs

you