Steve Wiley is one of the nation’s most sought-after performance coaches. ABC News calls him “the best speaker you’ve never heard of” and USA Today/Gannett says he provides “the most powerful performance training available”.
He is a proven entrepreneur, author, and highly acclaimed speaker who has trained and entertained hundreds of thousands of top executives from around the world. Clients include the majority of the Fortune 100 companies like Apple, Pfizer, Kellogg, Stanley Black & Decker, Xerox, New York Life, Chase, IBM, U.S.A. Today/Gannett, Exxon/Mobil and the Ford Motor Company; over 80 federal agencies such as Homeland Security, Departments of Defense, Interior and Justice; and over 75 Presidential appointees and their teams. His business experience includes the founding of three companies: two international franchise organizations and a national chain of fleet management centers. He has successfully negotiated multi-million dollar funding agreements for his own companies with some of the top venture capital organizations in the world.
Wiley brings a wealth of knowledge in the areas of leadership, personal development, successful marketing, negotiation, sales and business development. His strong leadership ability has earned him recognition in top publications including Venture Magazine, USA Today, and Entrepreneur Magazine. Steve is the author of Transformational Journeys.
Steve began his talk (as he normally does) by telling of his claim to fame. It seems he dated a young lady who went to his high school in Bowie, MD, named Kathy Epstein. She later became Kathy Lee Gifford. He said that they got along well and she was a nice kid, but he just couldn't be Frank with her (referring to her late husband Frank Gifford).
Moving right into his talk about leadership, Steve asked us what leadership is? He received answers from our members, such as, "Having vision", "Getting followers", and "Setting a good example".
He told us that, according to a study, 86% of people said that they buy a service or a product based on the person that is selling it. Furthermore, 67% of the people in this study said that their decision to stick with a certain provider had nothing to do with money, or qualifications, it was about the person that was providing the product or service.
Steve shared his belief that leadership can be learned, mostly by reflecting on our experiences. He asked for our opinion on whether Americans are as good as we should be in leadership. The majority felt that we could be doing better, so he asked what gets in the way. Responses from our group were: Ego and impatience. We seem to focus on what benefits us and we want it now. He then told us of his first business that he started after graduating from Gettysburg College. He was sued and was pursued by collection agencies but managed to save the business. After that he was asked to give some "pep talks" to other business men and that launched his speaking career.
The Lincoln Leadership Institute teaches people to perform in a rapidly changing, stressful environment- that's what the leaders at the Battle of Gettysburg faced, and that's why he uses the battlefield and those situations in his teachings. He has a number of highly-qualified faculty to teach these lessons; people such as, Rear Admiral Scott Moore (Retired), who was the commander of the rescue of Captain Phillips (from the movie by the same name). He also has a former member of the Navy SEAL Team Six and former battlefield guides. He showed several videos to demonstrate these items.
Steve talked about how poorly we communicate and the reason being that we don't listen. He characterized our listening skills, as a society, as horrific. Most people are not listening, but just waiting for a chance to speak. Good leaders listen until it hurts. He told us that the breakdown on how we communicate has been proven to be 7% by the words that we say, 38% by the tone and manner of how it is said, and that 55% of it is physical; how we look, how we act and what facial expressions we use.
The institute is now offering training virtually and not in-person, because of the pandemic. He took several questions, and in answer to one about the importance of honesty and transparency, Steve rated those as being extremely important and said that is a big part of the leadership training that he offers. He also told us that there are certain times where they will have open enrollment for individuals who are not part of a group, looking for leadership training. He ended by giving us his email address and inviting us to contact him: steve@gettysburgleadership.com
Chuck Sawicki introduced Steven B. Wiley (shown above, from our Zoom meeting) and shared some of his biography, as such:
