The Young And Exceptional™: Taylor Sarman

Taylor Sarman, a freshman at Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon, has had a passion for serving others since an early age. This passion has led him to pursue a degree in Political Science, which he hopes to use to improve the lives of those around him.

Taylor was extensively involved in Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) in high school, where he served the association as National President. Since graduating high school, Taylor has been an active member of the Oregon FBLA Board of Trustees, and he continues to fulfill his passion of serving others with the March of Dimes as a member of the National Youth Council.

Recently, I met Taylor when I was the keynote speaker at the FBLA-PBL National Fall Leadership Conference. Awesome guy.

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The Young And Exceptional™: Adora Svitak

Adora Lily Svitak is an American child prodigy and internationally published author, known for her essays, stories, poems, blogs, and full-length books. In 2010 Adora spoke at the prestigious TED Conference and she is one of the organizers of TEDx Redmond.

Recently, I interviewed Adora and her answers (below) were insightful. And some were funny too!

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Q & A: Scared For My Daughter. Any Suggestions?

Q: Hi Al, I have a 20 y/o daughter who has gone through  two semesters at school. Two different schools. She doesn’t believe school is for her so she wanted to join the marines but her test score wasn’t high enough. We live in [a very small town] and jobs are hard to come by here. I realize she’s not alone in her quest for employment but I don’t know how to help her. I am worried and scared for her. Anything you can suggest will be greatly appreciated. —Phyllis F.

5 Steps For Dealing With Worry

NOTE: Be sure to answer the discussion questions at the end of this article.

After a seminar one day, I was talking to a young lady who spends too much time worrying. She was worried about getting off to a great start that semester. She was worried about getting into graduate school. She was worried about how she was going to do on her finals.

Really?!

She hadn’t even been to a class yet!

She and I sat down for about 20 minutes and worked on getting the “worry weeds” out of her head. Here’s a snapshot of what we talked about.

[ACTIVITY] Soft Skills Questions You Could Be Asked During An Interview

Here are 29 sample behavioral-based interviewing questions that companies and organizations use to help assess a person’s leadership ability, teamwork and other soft skills.

Below the questions there are two activities you can do with your group.

To be a rock star at answering these questions you have to tell clear, concise, and compelling stories and give relevant examples of your skills and actions.

If you want an easy method for doing this, read How To Tell Your Story In Professional Settings.

Some of the questions can be tough to answer if you haven’t properly prepared for your interview and obviously, a few of these questions are only for people interviewing for  leadership or management positions. If you have any others to add, please let me know.

A Lesson On Perfection From Jeff Bezos, Founder Of Amazon

It’s common knowledge that when people obsess over “things not being perfect” it can cause them to become frozen with the fear of failure. Still, many people still struggle with it. So, what can be done about this?

Whenever I’m struggling with whether or not to implement a plan or idea because “it’s not perfect” I take a look at great leaders and entrepreneurs who launched services and products that weren’t perfect. The one who has been coming to mind as of late is Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.

[ACTIVITY] Q & A: The Benefits Of Individuality

What are the benefits of being an individual, as opposed to someone who just wants to be like everyone else?  -Jennifer M., graduate student

NOTE: Be sure to check out the activity at the end of the article.

Asserting your individuality or promoting your personal brand will increase your sense of significance, as well as your perceived value in the marketplace, but asserting your individuality in the wrong way could be perceived as arrogance. Not good. There’s the short version of your answer. I could leave it at that but…that wouldn’t be much fun, would it?