• "If Not You… Then Who?" - by Scott V. Black, CEO
• The Final Schedule
• Making a Difference - Margarita Delgado, Team 527
• "My Empower U Experience" - Randy Mercer, Team 409
• My Word Coach - Bread and Politicians...

“If Not You... Then Who?”

By Scott V. Black

Hello Empower U Leadership Team.

Things have been very hectic here at Empower U lately. We are helping others take their possibilities, their dreams… their lives to another level all over this continent. We were in Dallas with 16 people for team 536, then 19 in Iowa with team 539, and 12 with team 542 in Sacramento. 46 lives impacted by showing people, “When you live your life like it matters - It Does!”

In September I will be in Mexico, Sacramento and Arkansas. As I travel I read papers from all over the country and watch the news in the different cities that we visit. I am not sure if you noticed but there is an election going on. For some of you it has been going on for 2 years, for those of us that are more conservative our election has just begun.

Living Beyond Old Limits

One of the things that is taking place in this election is something that takes place in our training. In our training people get a chance to live their lives beyond what people think is possible. They get beyond the limits of their own self imposed barriers and walls. As Eleanor Roosevelt said, ”The only limits to our realizations of tomorrow will be our doubts of today.”

As I watch this election I am surprised when I see people almost worshipping this young senator who has accomplished nothing and most people don’t even know what he stands for, or what his “world view’ is, or where it comes from.

As I ask why, I realize that what is happening is similar to what takes place in our training. It goes back to the last quote that we share in Leadership Awakening by Marianne Williamson:

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are born to make manifest the Glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us, it’s in everyone, and as we let our own light shine, we consciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

I was watching the news after Mr. Obama descended onto the stage at INVESCO field in Denver and a reporter interviewed a woman of color and she said, “I always tell my son that he can be anything he wants to be. Seeing Barrack Obama accepting the Democratic nomination, showed him that I was telling the truth.” This woman basically said, “Here is a man of color, who has a legitimate shot to be the leader of the free world… if he can do it, so can you!”

Whether we agree or not with Mr. Obama, he has shown that Martin Luther King Junior's dream is more of a reality than some will lead us to believe. Since I don’t agree with the junior senator from Illinois, it was hard to see what was going on.

I got a better understanding of this sensation when John McCain selected Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate. What an incredible pick! Now those that don’t agree with who the media has selected as the next president are experiencing the same thing.

I watched the media frenzy and the shock and surprise by Senator McCain picking this woman from Alaska that nobody had every heard about—Like Barrack Obama before Oprah Winfrey made him “her candidate.”

Her words were very similar to the lady interviewed after Senator Obama’s speech. I am paraphrasing, since I don’t have the direct quote:

“In Denver this week, Hillary Clinton showed that she put 18million cracks in the biggest glass ceiling remaining in America, I am here to tell the woman of America, we are not done yet. We will break that barrier once and for all!”

Listening to Governor Palin explain how she got to where she is was inspiring. A hockey mom who just got involved because things weren’t right, so she decided to do something about it. Someone who decided she could make a difference and got involved with her PTA board, then her district, then became mayor, then took on big oil and corruption in Alaska and became the youngest, and first female governor of the state of Alaska.

She now stands at the threshold of becoming the first female Vice President of the United States. This is exciting! What is happening here is what we live, and talk about, in all of our Leadership Training. When you live your life like it matters it does!

Edward Everett Hale put it this way,

"I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do.”

That is what people are experiencing in this election. I think this is a critical election, because the world is a tough place. Whether you agree or not with Mr. Obama or Mr McCain one thing that we are experiencing is the power of the belief, “When you live your life like it matters it does.”

There are so many people and organizations in need of our help. I have two questions for you! If not you… then who? If not now… then when?

This world is starving for people of faith and courage to get involved. How about these world statistics:

• Every 3.5 seconds someone dies of hunger.
• Every 11 seconds someone dies of AIDS.
• Every 15 seconds a child dies from a waterborne illness.
• 40 million people are living with HIV/AIDS.
• 1 billion have no access to clean water.
• 2.6 billion Live without basic sanitation.
• 5 million live in refugee camps.
• 1.08 billion Live on $1 or less per day.
• 2 million children die each year from diseases that inexpensive vaccines could have prevented.
• 11 million children die before they reach their 5th birthday. That's as if every child under five living in the United Kingdom, France, and Germany were to die in a single year.
• Enough food is produced to feed everyone.

Every year more than 16 million people - the equivalent of one hundred 747 jets crashing every day of the year - die from:

• Hunger 9,125,000
• HIV/AIDS 2,900,000
• Pneumonia 2,000,000
• Diarrhea 1,600,000
• Malaria 1,000,000

You might look at the list above and say, “What difference can I make… I am only one? that is why I love Mr. hales quote above. Who you are makes a difference if you choose to.

Download a printable copy of the "If Not You..." handout here.

Empower U is a small company. We are under-funded, over worked and maybe even… over our heads. But it won’t deter, nor stop me from living out our mission. As Calvin Coolidge put it, "We cannot do everything at once, but we can do something at once." What are you doing today that makes it matter that you are living on this planet, at this time?

As we say in class, “You can have all the ‘why not’s, but if you can just find one reason ‘why’!” Why are you here? Why have you been given the gift of life… what is your purpose?

“We are creating our own history… how is the story of your life being written?”   ~ Scott V. Black

Whether you agree with Senator McCain or Senator Obama, both want to leave their footprint on time. This election cycle we will either elect the first black president, or the first female Vice President… we are living in historic times. But let me suggest that even without this race… we are living in historic times.

What are you doing today, that makes it matter that you are living in that body, at this time? I love these words by Mother Theresa:

People are unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered.
Love them anyway.

If you do good, people may accuse you of selfish motives.
Do good anyway.

If you are successful, you may win false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.

The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.

Honesty and transparency make you vulnerable.
Be honest and transparent anyway.

What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.

People who really want help may attack you if you help them.
Help them anyway.

Give the world the best you have and you may get hurt.
Give the world your best anyway.

Download a printable copy of this quote by clicking here

Today I just have two questions for you… If not you, then who? If not now, then when?

The time is now! If you don’t think that living your life like it matters in this time really makes a difference… do it anyway! Take action today. You never know it just might give others permission to do the same! The way you live your life will give others permission to do the same.

Maybe that is your children, your spouse, the guy you sit next to in church. People are looking for people to give them permission to be great… to matter! Who you are matters. Your time on this planet, before your time in the box matters! Your life could give others hope for their life.

Today let us all remember… When WE live your life like it matters - It Does!

If you still don’t believe in this truth, just ask Governor Palin’s littlest child, Trigg, who has Down's Syndrome… When he can talk, I guarantee he will tell you that his mom gave him the ability and permission to live his life like it matters… How about you?

With Passion-HBS

Scott V. Black

The Final Schedule

Classes are now set through the end of the year

The final schedule for Empower U classes for 2008 is set. There are also classes scheduled for the beginning of 2009. Here are the details:

The last Leadership Awakening will be December 18-20 in Sacramento. This is an outstanding opportunity to end the year by pumping up the passion and refocusing on what really matters.

The same can be said of the first class of the year, which will be January 15-17, 2009 in Dallas/Ft. Worth.

If you have starfish to send be sure to take a look at the schedule. You can even print a copy directly or forward the schedule page when you go to the web site.

And speaking of pumping it up...

If you're a graduate of Leadership Awakening and haven't yet scheduled the second part of the Leadership Experience, Leadership Adventure, what are you waiting for? The Time is NOW!

October 23-25 marks the last opportunity to attend Adventure this year. It's the perfect time to take your skills to the next level and learn the true power of teamwork.

If you can't make those dates, then plan on diving into the New Year by attending the January 22-24 Adventure dates.

Remember... when you live your life like it matters, it DOES!

What To Do Next:

Enroll by calling the Dallas office at (817) 478-1858.

Making a Difference -
Margarita Delgado, Team 527

Wow what a wonderful morning it is. I should really be focusing on my work right now, but my mind keeps going to the AWESOME things that are happening! I've been very busy since I've been back, but not too busy for the things that fulfill my beliefs.

My husband and I took a long leisurely walk around our beautiful neighborhood for the FIRST TIME in our married lives. Can you believe this. We talked about things that mean so much to us, what WE will do to continue to go forward. It was an awesome experience!!!!!

I've REALLY LISTENED to what my children are saying. I've learned things that I should have known or been aware of a long time ago! WOW!

...and yesterday, I seized the opportunity to meet with all the leadership team in our Amarillo center. I wanted them to know that in order to get in the first quartile in our industry it was going to take us RAISING THE BAR consistently and not lowering it for anyone! I went over the Extra Effort worksheet with them to show them what not giving 100% all the time can create. They were all in Awe. I started the meeting with the Raising the Bar song, which again was great-I just wish that I had a Bose stereo to really blare it. Next time.

I shared some of my experience at Empower You, that they needed to realize that there is "I" in TEAM, and what that meant. I asked that they identify their "I" and bring it to every meeting with 100% of their commitment so that we can build a TEAM. I had several buzzing the remainder of the day. I had two specifically want to meet with me more on my experience.

The coolest thing though is that our VP of CES, VP of Customer Care and Revenue Cycle, our Managing Director of our Revenue Cycle, our Managing Director of Government Affairs, our Director of Planning and Performance, Our Director of Customer Care, and two of our Board of Directors happen to hear my voice PROJECT across the hall into another room. Later in the evening this was brought to my attention at dinner. WOW, and I wasn't even in full focus like on our America, the Beautiful song.

Just had to share. It is an awesome day and it's just begun!

"Live IN the moment with Passion, and always crave for tomorrow with excitement, because you lived with fulfillment today"

"My Empower U Experience"

Randy Mercer, Team 409

Dear Scott:

Thank you and your staff for the profound impact Leadership Awakening has had on my personal and professional life. A friend and business associate contacted me the day after he graduated from Awakening and STRONGLY recommended this course for me. I was convinced by his energy and enthusiasm for this course to sign up immediately.

Having attended a plethora of training sessions ranging from Personal Development to Management to Leadership as well as read many more books covering the same subjects, I envisioned long studious days filled with typical class room lessons. Up until now I believed that if you implemented one single concept from either a class or from a book you read it justified your time spent.

Your training has dramatically raised the bar for me and proven that both of these thoughts were incorrect. Leadership Awakening is an intense interactive two and a half days of training that takes learning from a conscious level to a sub-conscious level. I walked away with a new found energy and enthusiasm to live life to its fullest every single day.

My wife of sixteen years attended Leadership Awakening immediately after my Graduation. Over the years my wife and I have connected on many levels, however after both of us attended Awakening our relationship has elevated to an incredibly high level. Awakening has not only changed my life, but has changed my business partner's life as well.

Since November we have sent six key personnel through Leadership Awakening and continue to enroll others. We have experienced a positive shift with our business culture and look forward to the continued Empower U training of other Air Systems employees.

Sincerely - Heart, Body and Soul

Randy Mercier
Senior Vice President
Air Systems

My Word Coach

Can you figure it out?

We commonly use words and phrases that have old meanings. Often we aren't even aware of where those words came from.

Twice a month we'll be giving you a hint about word and a phrase and ask you to guess what the word or phrase is. Of course we'll be giving you the answers, but do yourself a favor and see if you can get the answer before clicking on the link.

Have fun!

Question #1: This word is the name of a hearty bread originally from Germany. It's name is made by combining a German word for passing gas with a shortened version of the name Nicholas. What is the word?

Question #2: In the old days political candidates campaigned from horse-drawn carriages. Often these would be big enough that a brass band came along playing loudly to get people's attention. People wanting to show support for the candidate sprang onto the vehicle to help stir the crowd. This led to a popular saying used to describe someone supporting a cause. What is the saying?

See the answers by clicking here.