Meet Jo Anna Shaw, MBA
Self Mastery through Service
This video is an Ice Breaker speech I did for my Toastmaster club. In it I tell my story which I write about in more detail below.
Be sure to scroll to the bottom and enjoy my poem. .
I have a 20 year banking career. You name it, I probably did it: branch operations and management, corporate lending, correspondent banking, small business finance and more. I've had the American dream, lost it, then gained it back plus more than I ever dreamed.
I've discovered, it is not so much what I do or create in my life as who I become as I do it.
In the late 80s and early 90s, I made a 180 degree change in my career. The banking industry was going through a large-scale restructuring. In two years, I went through five reorganizations. In the final round, I found myself downsized out.
It was one of those cliff-edge moments that invited me to spread my wings, follow my heart and jump. I landed in the field of Educational Kinesiology (Edu-K), the foundation from which I developed Mind/Body Coaching.
From the Edu-K curriculum, I facilitated Brain Gym®, Visioncircles™ (a natural vision improvement course) and Optimal Brain Organization™. I was a keynote and seminar presenter at Edu-K Gatherings in the U.S., Canada, Australia and England. I have an Outstanding Achievement Award for my contributions to the field of Edu-K.
I studied Transformational Meditation, NLP, Reiki, and many developmental movement processes as my business evolved and I grew. I even took up Aikido and Tai Chi to bring a more movement-based learning approach to non-violent communication strategies. I call it Verbal Aikido®.
I believe there are gifts in every challenge. Every problem presents an opportunity to grow. Growth is not one major event. Growth is a series of many smaller steps.
Bringing it all together
The economic conditions in 2007 & 2008 presented another one of those cliff-edge times. The gift was the merging of my business expertise and mind/body work. I contracted with a national business training firm. Adding this client expanded my services into the public seminar business presenting communication and leadership skills trainings. Since January 2009, I have presented their programs to thousands of business people a year from Hawaii to Chicago and from Alaska to Texas.
Stepping into the unknown can be like riding white-water rapids; scary and exciting. Just ask yourself whether sticking with the status quo and wondering "What if?" is more comfortable than taking an uncertain ride that opens many more possibilities and opportunities.
The choice to move forward is a win/win solution. Even if you go back, you go back with the satisfaction of knowing the answer to the question, "What if?".
Why settle for less than all that you can be and do? Why let your fear make your decisions for you?
I leave you with this poem which was inspired by the learning curve I navigated in the public seminar business. May it inspire you to look for the gifts within your situation and to take action.
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Footsteps of Giants
I walk in the footsteps of giants
Jesus
Covey
Canfield
Dyer
I share my wisdom
Saying it is their wisdom
Knowing it belongs to no one
Some greet it openly
Inspired with ah-ha’s
And take action with conviction
Some throw up walls
Defending old ways
Determined not to change
Why differing responses?
I invite life long learning
Yeses and nos invite me to my own
I learn to
Detach
Enjoy the process
Be the wisdom
It is no accident
We show up in the same room
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May you find joy and fulfillment through your work and life.
Jo Anna
