Provoking Your Greatness - Misti Burmeister

“Why don’t they put more time and attention to that client? If they don’t, they might lose them.”

“Can’t they see I would be excellent in that position? Why don’t they consider me?”

“Don’t they understand that if they’d just have more team building activities throughout the year everyone would work better together? Collaboration clearly improved after our yearly retreat.”

“Why don’t they spend a little extra money on the furn...

Running beneath the surface of our conscious awareness is a set of beliefs—sort of an autopilot of assumptions and expectations. The role models we’re exposed to as children, along with the stories we consistently hear, instruct our belief system and set us up to repeat patterns that create the results we see every day.

Do you know the beliefs you bought into as a child that continue to create your current reality?

I thought I did,...

Why do leaders struggle to create collaborative work environments where team members step up and do whatever it takes to create remarkable results?

Is it because they haven’t set a vision that is compelling enough? Maybe.

Is it because they haven’t counseled their team enough about the importance of working together, despite the weekly—no daily—reminders? Probably not.

Is it because the team hasn’t decided on a shared set of values...

Company culture experts urge leaders to establish clearly defined values to serve as a guide for decisions and behaviors throughout an organization. 

To ensure they have the best representation of the values shared among those in leadership, companies often spend gobs of cash and time on experts who ultimately produce a document aligning the most common ideals. 

Mounted on the wall, and often on the website, these key words or ...

The greatest teachers in life are rarely the ones with great advice. They are remarkable role models who consistently show the way, while asking the kind of questions that stop us in our tracks. Their questions infect us with the kind of curiosity that leads us in the direction of our own answers.

You know the kind of person I’m talking about. Their question pierces through our internal chatter and commands the truth we’ve been...

We shy away from sharing or expanding into what we have to offer in the most obscure ways. We think that getting out of our comfort zone means doing something big, which is exactly what keeps us trapped and doing what we’ve always done.

Finishing up lunch with a client at a nice restaurant in Baltimore, Maryland, I kept thinking about that beautiful basket of bread (that we didn’t even touch) going into the trash. While a busines...

In a rush to get from one experience to the next, we may miss the simple and seemingly superfluous opportunities to inspire greatness. Believing that inspiration only comes in oversized packages, we may forget to look for the tiny (barely noticeable, really) opportunities to inspire others into action.

Having an “off” day and needing a shift in scenery, I headed to the pool for a workout. The moment I pulled into the parking lot,...

They should is a trap that kills enthusiasm and growth faster than any economic downturn ever could.

When you catch yourself thinking, “They should or shouldn’t,” stop and ask yourself, “How can I help them reach their goals?”

Consider letting go of the shoulds (work harder, pay their dues, respect me) and shouldn’ts (go above me, think so highly of themselves, be so lazy), and instead focus on communicating your vision while h...

Greatness chases greatness. Companies and leaders in continuous pursuit of evolution (personal/company brand), worry more about keeping up with demand then poaching.

On the flipside, those who hoard resources and acknowledgment wind up losing their most precious assets to the competition.

Sitting in one of the nicest business clubs in Washington, DC, just before the start of an event, Lena, a fellow businesswoman, peeked over h...

Confidence in nearly every endeavor comes with a sense of knowing or familiarity. In sports, strengthening the fundamentals is key to making critical decisions in a split second.

The same thing is true when it comes to gaining confidence in yourself. 

Confidence in yourself increases in direct portion to self-awareness. The more experience you have with self-talk, the more confidence you’ll have. Self-awareness leads to self-co...

I had the great privilege of being in Kara DelVecchio’s audience at a recent conference focused on women in leadership in the Washington, DC area. Her stories and passion were enough to capture my attention for well over an hour—in fact, I was nearly late getting set up for a session I was responsible for because I was so intrigued.

When she agreed to let me interview her for this podcast, my fingers couldn’t type my questions qu...

Confidence comes from the Latin word confide, which means to entrust. Self-confidence, then, is about learning to trust yourself with yourself. Just as it takes experiences over time to trust others, trusting in your own experience of life requires that same kind of intention and attention.

Remember the first time you sat behind the steering wheel of a car to drive? With your heart pumping, you tried to remember all the critical ...

When asked what it was like to be blind, Helen Keller said, “It's much better to have no sight than it is not to have a vision.”

While some people seem to be born with a clear vision for their life that naturally morphs into their career and inspires their team, most of us have to take the time to allow our vision to emerge. Interestingly, the difficulty in creating a vision isn’t what we think it is.

Creating a clear picture o...

Margie Warrell  has inspired millions of people around the globe to use their courage as a weapon to combat fear. As an avid follower of Margie’s work, I was excited to have a chance to learn about her journey, along with her perspective on the current state of the world during these political times.

Throughout the interview, we talk about how she went from being the oldest of seven, growing up on a dairy farm, to interviewing an...

Just nine years away from what he referred to as the socially acceptable date for retirement, Sam shared about the fear of filling his time—“I need to keep my brain active, and I’m not sure what I’ll do without people needing my help, or the excitement of winning the deal. My work brings purpose and structure to my days.”

When work provides such a strong sense of identity, belonging and accolades, letting go of the known for what...

Imagine standing inside a giant jar of jellybeans, minus the beans and delicious smell.

Looking through the glass, you can see there is a label, but you cannot figure out what it says. You can also see dozens of other people, all within their respective jars, none of whom can see what’s written on their own label.

You can see their label and they can see yours, but no one can see their own.

This is exactly where most of us find our...

There are tons of articles out there that discuss advancing your career—about seven million, to be exact. It shouldn’t be surprising to see why it’s a confusing topic. While there is no magic bullet, simple strategies can be taken to land the opportunities you want.

As I enjoyed a delicious breakfast with Stacey, a talented leader in the tech industry, I marveled at a story she shared about a young man, Keith, who has gone from b...

Being interviewed by such a powerfully present spiritual leader was one of the most special experiences of my career—Thank you, Sister Jenna.

During this short interview, we talked about how this year’s presidential election has the potential to instigate in U.S. citizens. We discussed how we can use these time to move us closer to our individual and collective greatness.  

The energy being produced from this election is powerf...

Seeking understanding is the last thing we want to do when someone has offended us, tainted our reputation, or put us in harm’s way. It’s far easier to hold tightly to our beliefs, keep our anger, and strengthen our story by gathering all the necessary data and buy-in from others.

It’s risky to seek their perspective and listen openly and authentically to their thought process, particularly when they might not demonstrate such co...