I would like to take this post and welcome Anne Sempowski Ward to The FORWARD Group. Anne has been named President and CEO. She will be responsible for developing the overall company strategy and overseeing various aspects of operations. She also leads the company’s FORWARD Consulting practice, where she and other members of Team FORWARD assist clients with developing winning corporate, operational, and marketing strategies.
During her almost two decades in corporate America, where she has held senior and c-suite positions at Procter & Gamble, Coca-Cola, and Johnson Publishing – parent company of iconic Ebony, Jet, and Fashion Fair brands – Anne has built strong business acumen and a wealth of expertise in the areas of corporate and brand strategy, operations, and overall business leadership. She has led challenging business turnarounds, high-profile acquisitions, classic rebranding efforts, corporate reorganization and restructuring, and multicultural marketing. She has worked across beauty, media, food & beverage, baby care, technology and a number of other consumer product categories.
In addition to leading the FORWARD Consulting group, Anne also coaches individuals and speaks to groups including Fortune 500 corporations, small and mid-size companies, nonprofit organizations, and educational institutions about the lessons she has learned throughout her career. She commonly speaks on topics related to linking your career to your passion and various aspects of The FORWARD Group’s signature PLAYMAKER Series. She is also recognized and often sought out by young corporate executives for her individual coaching on how to accomplish unbelievable career success by declaring and living your personal passions and holding true to your principles.
We are excited to add Anne, a true PLAYMAKER, to Team FORWARD.
The Forward FactorTM is a powerful process that Team Forward created to help individuals, companies and communities move forward. Many of you may have heard of the “X-Factor”. According to wisegeek.com, “in the world of mathematics, an ‘X factor’ is an unknown quantity which only becomes known after following a prescribed process. This concept of an unknown but vital quality also extends into other worlds, such as business and entertainment. In this sense, an ‘X-factor’ is a certain undefinable quality, which may promote one candidate over another in the eyes of his or her critics or examiners.”
Team Forward understands intimately the importance of forward movement and that’s why we developed The Forward Factor. By using our tested process we are certain we can get you unstuck and moving forward. No matter what situation you’re in or how stuck you are The Forward Factor can work if you work it.
There is no need to put your hopes, dreams and desires on hold any longer. Life could be passing you by, just because you don’t have the right resources to move forward. No more excuses it is time to start living the life you know you deserve. If your interested please contact a Team Forward member today @ info@teamforward.com
On Friday July 3rd, Sarah Palin resigned as Governor of Alaska. In her resignation speech she used a sports analogy.
“Let me go back to a comfortable analogy for me – sports… basketball. I use it because you’re naïve if you don’t see the national full-court press picking away right now: A good point guard drives through a full court press, protecting the ball, keeping her eye on the basket… and she knows exactly when to pass the ball so that the team can win. And I’m doing that – keeping our eye on the ball that represents sound priorities – smaller government, energy independence, national security, freedom! And I know when it’s time to pass the ball – for victory.”
The way I define a PLAYMAKER is someone who is unselfish, knows when to pass the ball or take the shot. A team player willing to put the team goals before individual goals.
Is Palin a PLAYMAKER?
Are you a PLAYMAKER? To find out go to:
Perfect Play Call
I caught the tail end of the NBA Finals second game between Orlando and the Lakers on Sunday, June 6th. I was just in time to see Coach Stan Van Gundy draw up the perfect play call to enable Orlando to win the game. Orlando called a time-out with the score tied at 88–88, with .06 seconds left in the game.
In a perfect play, Rashard Lewis set a back pick on Kobe Bryant, allowing point guard Courtney Lee to make his move to the basket. Lee cut to the basket and went up to catch the ball that Hedo Turkoglu lofted to him from out of bounds. Lee caught the ball and tried to lay it in, but the ball hit the backboard and rimmed out, causing Orlando to lose the game in overtime.
In life, you can have the right play called at the right time and still not make the play. The lesson is: Don’t dwell on the missed opportunity, but quickly understand what went wrong and how you can correct it for next time. The longer you beat yourself up over it, the longer it will linger and potentially have a negative effect on your performance.
Lee was quoted as saying: “When I was at home, I was just beating myself up a little bit.” The best way he could think of to try to forget the potential game-winner was to watch it a few times, then move on.
Make the plays you need to make and keep moving forward, no matter the outcome.
Integrity with Yourself
I constantly meet people in their 30s, maybe even early 40s, who have done everything right—they’ve gone to good schools, earned advanced degrees, worked for top companies, and established a strong financial start—but who feel unfulfilled, and in some cases downright miserable. Perhaps you are reading this or visiting The Forward Group’s Website because you are one of them!
If all your life you’ve done everything you were supposed to do, then why are you so unhappy now? Why do you feel stuck? Why have none of the approaches you’ve taken to get unstuck and find true happiness worked?
And most important: How do you move forward again and find real happiness?
Let’s look at one potential reason that you might feel stuck.
Could it be that you have no integrity with yourself? In other words have you forfeited your hopes and dreams to meet another’s expectations? The life you live is perhaps the life your parents, grandparents, siblings, or a significant other want you to live. Have you either consciously or unconsciously, allowed them to impose their own needs and wants on your life?
They probably meant no harm. In fact, most likely they believed they were looking out for your best interests. But the safe, structured path down which they steered you has led you to frustration and discontent, not the freedom and happiness you want for yourself.
Does this sound familiar to you? Maybe you excelled in music or art in school, but your parents discouraged you from nurturing your creative talents and redirected your effort to subjects they believed were more realistic and practical. Perhaps you considered majoring in music performance, but your parents pressured you to pursue a business degree and lock in a reliable salary.
Now, it’s true that you enjoy a comfortable lifestyle and a healthy income—but at what cost? What would happen if you got back to your roots and began to pursue your core passions? Can you imagine finding the motivation to move forward in the broad space of your unrealized dreams?
I hope you’ll join me for my next post, as we begin to explore the cost of straying from integrity with yourself, and the myriad rewards of getting back on track and moving forward.
Topics: Integrity, Being Stuck, Passion, Freedom, Happiness
The Foundation of The FORWARD Group
Welcome to The FORWARD Group, where hopes and dreams become reality. They will not become reality just by me saying that they become reality, but by you making it happen, with the help of the FORWARD Thinkers.
As we contemplated developing this blog, I realized we needed a good reason for having one. After several conversations, it became clear that a blog will contribute perfectly to our foremost goal: to help you move forward in life. We want to help get you unstuck and moving in the right direction. Through this blog, we will ask insightful questions, challenge old paradigms of thinking, and push for forward movement.
The FORWARD Group blog will be a reliable and ever-renewing resource you can visit anytime you are seeking inspiration to help get you moving from where you are to where you want to be. Whether you are just beginning a journey of personal or professional growth, you’re well on your way to bringing your dreams to life, or you’ve achieved many of your most significant goals and want to maintain your forward progress, what I offer here will help you get moving forward and keep going strong.
As a coach, I know all too well the frustrations many of you are struggling with in these challenging times—although I suspect that some have struggled long before our present economic woes. Let’s take a moment to discuss what stuck actually means.
(to be) stuck
- to remain in a static condition
- to fail to progress
- to be fixed in a particular position, unable to move or be moved
- to be unable to progress with a task or find the answers or solutions to a problem
I spent my formative professional years working in sales and marketing in corporate America. I was comfortable, well-paid, and on track to achieve significant material and professional success. By all measures, I should have been on top of the world. But every time I paused from my busy lifestyle for a moment and looked deeply within myself, I discovered that I felt a sense of discontentment, a longing to do something different, something more, something that had greater meaning for me. I felt stuck.
I clearly remember how I felt when I was stuck. I dreaded going to work each day. My work no longer fulfilled me. I felt as though I was wasting time. I wasn’t progressing or digressing—just there. It was as if life had me in holding pattern, circling with no intention of landing.
If you are stuck, it is important for you to recognize it. You might be stuck in a relationship, business, family, faith, financial situation, or your health, just to name a few. If you can relate to any of these feelings, you might be stuck.
Tune in next week as we begin to explore what it takes to get unstuck.
Topics: Being Stuck, Moving Forward
