The podcast by project manager for project managers. “Why you work determines how well you work.” Finding our Why impacts how well we lead a project, and enables team members to stay focused and motivated to finish the project successfully. Listen in for valuable advice on resilience, motivation, and “growing your grit” to help project managers envision their potential and build stronger teams.

Table of Contents

03:25 … Finding Your Why: A Look at Past Guests06:58 … Prepare To Roar Expeditions08:32 … The Riverbend Group09:18 … Embarking on a Major career Change11:08 … Doreen’s Story: Identifying Her Why12:48 … The Impact of Your Why14:01 … Relating the Why to Projects16:27 … Project Teams: Aligning Your Whys19:27 … Making it a Priority21:43 … Goals vs. Whys24:34 … Cultural Drivers Affecting our Choices30:35 … Resilience and Long Term Goals32:26 … Misconceptions about Motivation34:19 … Becoming Motivated36:39 … Key Factors of staying Motivated37:57 … Our Differences and Growing Grit39:34 … Are You at a Crossroads?42:40 … Get in Touch with Doreen44:01 … Closing

DOREEN LINNEMAN: ...and because of that the world is just reeling with change, and change is happening all the time.  And as scary as that is, the beauty about that is people’s postures are open for change.  Normally as humans we resist change.  But people are expectant for change.  They have just been forced to do it.  It’s like, oh, what’s coming next?  And with that is a gift.  It’s a huge gift for all of us.  If we laser focus here on just being your professional legacy, very rarely do you get the opportunity to change it, or to change a trajectory.  Really the only time you get to do it is when you leave a company.  Right?  And you get to start over and build up reputation from scratch.

What’s beautiful about the situation of moving past and through COVID is that, again, everybody is expectant to change.  And quite frankly, if you’re a leader who doesn’t change, I mean, shame on you.  How could you not go through what we’ve just gone through and not lead differently?  Right?  Your people want you to.  They’re ready for you to.  It’s just such a perfect opportunity to put a stake in the ground and be like, what do I want to be remembered for?  Who do I want to serve?  How do I want to be?  What is the legacy I’ll want to be?  And to start to make that shift.  And if it seems daunting, then you go back to those micro goals. ...but now is the time, because what you will not regret are making the changes.

WENDY GROUNDS:  You’re listening to Manage This, the podcast by project managers for project managers.  I am Wendy Grounds, and joining me is Bill Yates.  We’re so glad that you’re joining us today.  And if you enjoy this episode, please visit us at Velociteach.com.  You can leave a comment for us on our Manage This Podcast page.  We always like hearing from you. And remember you can still claim your free PDUs.   Our PDU claim page has the new instructions.  Make sure not to use the autofill, but type in “Velociteach” and the title when you are submitting your PDUs.  So I’m very excited.  Today we have a guest in the studio with us.

BILL YATES:  Yes.     

WENDY GROUNDS:  And we always love getting to personally meet our guests and not have to talk on Skype all the time.

BILL YATES:  Right.

WENDY GROUNDS:  Doreen Linneman is a keynote speaker, she focuses on management consulting, professional development team building.  She really takes leadership and professional development out of the boardroom and into nature, doesn’t she.

BILL YATES:  Yes, she does.  That’s an understatement.  She’s got three companies that she started, and one’s called Prepare to Roar.  We’ll hear more about that.  But that involves taking leaders out of the boardroom, out of the conference rooms and  all the coffee and doughnuts, and putting them in nature and having them face some of their biggest fears, like these gorillas or sharks or different things like that.

WENDY GROUNDS:  She’s got some incredible stories.  I’ve also noticed in her bio she’s a certified mental toughness facilitator and trainer, and she’s completed the Navy SEALFIT Leadership Academy.  So she’s got some punch there.

BILL YATES:  Yes, absolutely.  She has got some game.  I can’t wait to have Doreen talk with us about her experiences.  And she’s an accomplished athlete, as well.  She’s finished the Ironman Triathlon three times, which is just amazing.  So we’re delighted to have her here in our studio to share some of her wisdom with us.

Finding Your Why: A Look at Past Guests

WENDY GROUNDS:  One of the main topics we’re talking about is the why, or the purpose behind the what of what we do.  And we’re going to get deeper into that with Doreen when we talk with her.  But while we were talking about this, Bill and I just went through some of our past episodes on our podcast, and looked at guests that we’ve had who’ve had very strong whys.

BILL YATES:  Yeah.  Oh, yeah.  Let me just start with one.  Episode 86 we talked with Doc Watson, and that was on saving rhinos with Connected Conservation.  Here’s a quote from Doc:  “I think there was almost a calling, if I could call it that, where I could marry technology to conservation and have a look at saving species.”

WENDY GROUNDS:  More recently we talked to Jody Staruk, and she is a woman who’s leading the way in construction projects.  And she had been asked to be the first female executive of her company.  And in Episode 132, the quote she gave was to her boss.  She said:  “You’re asking me to be the first female executive of the company, which means it can’t fail because, whether it’s my decision or not, it will never be viewed that way.  I don’t want to send that message to younger women in the company.”  And so she took on a big task, and she succeeded.

BILL YATES:  Yes, she did, yes.  The desire to help others and step beyond yourself, that theme came out.  Mark Von Tillow, Episode 80:  In Case of Fire, Handle With Courage.  Mark said he was moved into what he does after his father’s sudden passing.  And to quote Mark:  “That was really my first exposure to that.  And I thought, you know, I’d like to be that person someday, trying to help somebody.  So that’s really where it started.”

WENDY GROUNDS:  We could go on all day and just do a podcast quoting our guests.  You know, they’ve made an impact on us.  They’ve touched us with their story.  And one that’s really touched my heart is Peter Baines.  This was Episode 126:  Leading Through Tragedy, Finding Purpose.  And I’m just going to read Peter’s quote.  He says:  “We need to understand our real clarity of purpose, or why we do what we do.  And for leaders it’s when we should be bringing that into our teams.”  He has an amazing story of going through tragedy of seeing the tsunami victims and why he went to help the children there.

BILL YATES:  A final one that I’ve got to mention, Dr. James Crowe, Episode 124:  A Vital Project – Pursuing Antibody Science in a Pandemic.  Dr. Crowe shared that he started out as a pediatrician.  And just to quote him:  “Ultimately I trained as an infectious disease specialist to try to work on prevention of disease, infectious diseases particularly, for the world’s most vulnerable people.  And that ultimately led me to science.”  So again, that motivation and kind of the story behind the story with those who have gone on to do projects that make such a difference in the world.

WENDY GROUNDS:  Yeah.

BILL YATES:  Wendy, this is crazy.  We could talk all day about some of these guests and some of the things that have motivated them with their projects.  I’m just thinking about orbital space debris.  I’m thinking about removing plastic from the oceans.  There are so many examples.  I’m really excited to be able to have this conversation with Doreen.

WENDY GROUNDS:  Yes.  Doreen, we’re so glad to have you here today.  Thank you for joining us.

DOREEN LINNEMAN:  Oh, thank you so much.  I am fired up to be here this morning, really excited.

WENDY GROUNDS:  I’m glad to hear you’re fired up because I know you’ve just had a bit of jet lag coming in.

DOREEN LINNEMAN:  Yes.  I had 10 hours and 45 minutes of sleep last night, so I am amazing.

BILL YATES:  Good.

DOREEN LINNEMAN:  I think I’ve conquered the Serengeti jet lag for sure.

Prepare to Roar Expedition

WENDY GROUNDS:  Why don’t you tell us about that?  Tell us about the trip you’ve been on.

DOREEN LINNEMAN:  Yeah, I just got back from a Prepare to Roar expedition, which is one of my companies.  And it’s kind of this unique intersection of blood and wine or sweat and wine.  It’s all about helping people professionally or personally find and live their best life, goal-setting.  I get corporate executives come.  I get families.  And I get teams.  And this one was all about goal-setting.  We use the big cats of the Serengeti – the lions, leopards, and cheetahs – to teach us about identifying your prey or your goal, and then design your hunting strategy.  So I just left four or five executives fired up to finish their 2021 strong.

BILL YATES:  How long were you there?

DOREEN LINNEMAN:  For the program, this particular program was five nights in the Serengeti.  And then I stayed a little bit extra to sharpen my saw when it comes to identifying birds by sound.  And my guides, I’m an expert on vultures now, and termites.  So I spent a couple extra days down there to sharpen my skills, as well.

WENDY GROUNDS:  I know that you do other expeditions, as well.  I’ve been very interested in the shark one done near Cape Town?

DOREEN LINNEMAN:  Yeah, the shark one.  I’m a little conflicted about that one right now with nature, whether or not I want to continue that one and making sure that I’m honoring the animals, and we’re doing things in a right way.  But we have an amazing one about risk and going for it in the jungles of Belize.