Sheila Murray Bethel, PhD [ full bio ]

Best Selling Author, Global Leadership and Change Expert, Hall of Fame Speaker, CEO Bethel Leadership Institute

Dr. Sheila Murray Bethel has helped organizations, leaders and people around the world answer these questions and she will do the same for you:

• Is your leadership as vibrant, effective and solid as you would like it to be?
• What can your teams do to thrive on change as a key to the future?
• How can you improve and update your team building skills?
• How can you increase the effectiveness of your customer service initiatives?
• Where do you find the personal motivation to survive and thrive in tough times?

Together you will take a fresh look at your tried and true concepts, put them through a new filter, then update and align them with your current challenges and opportunities. Her messages are timely, relevant, and grounded in current realities – real world content for real world results.

You'll explore the changes necessary to revitalize your leadership model so you can guide your followers into a sustainable, successful future. Sheila helps you clarify and identify the best leadership qualities for a sense of community, creating engaged teams of committed people who rally around a set of common values and goals. She presents an inspiring and refreshing approach to 21st century leadership, team building, customer service and change.

Dr. Bethel is the best-selling author of five books: three on leadership and change and two on personal development. She has dedicated twenty-five years of research, critical thinking, and discovery to these topics. Her expertise in how and why adults learn, grow, and excel springs from her groundbreaking work in designing a training model to recover brain function in developmentally handicapped children. With humor, warmth, and a blend of immediately usable ideas and concepts, she challenges audiences to strive to be their best at their work and in life. She translates her experience into fundamental elements that help others transform information and knowledge into skills that influence their organization in positive ways and that add meaning to their life.

With a PhD in Philosophy and a major in Communications, Sheila has traveled the world, benefiting enterprises and people at every level of society through her clear perspective and common sense approach. Her client list includes, Major Trade Associations and Fortune 500 companies, such as General Electric, AT&T, American Express, Microsoft, Aetna, and Kraft Foods. She has been featured in and written for numerous hard copy and on-line publications: USA Today, The Washington Post, San Francisco Examiner, Investors Daily, Dallas Morning News, Newsweek Australia, The Sydney Sunday Telegraph, Leadership Excellence, Successful Meetings Magazine, and Incentive Magazine, to name a few.[ more ... ]

Sheila Murray Bethel's Expertise:

Leadership  •  Team Building  •  Change  •  Customer Service

Her presentations immediately engage your audience with an entertaining, authoritative and inviting style that encourages learning and growth. She lays out clear guidelines and essential tools needed to be an effective leader, change master, customer service team and a person who can withstand tough times. She helps people discover their strengths and improve their weaknesses. A master storyteller, Sheila weaves real life examples into each learning point. Audiences quickly grasp the important elements of how to define what works for their organization and for themselves personally. Her focus is on how to develop and enhance your individual and organization's leaders; how to attract, retain, engage good people and inspire them to excel and find meaning in both work and life; how to build engaged dynamic teams; how to add a new world-class dimension to your current customer service initiative, and how to increase their ability to accept, handle and thrive on change in an era of unprecedented transformation.

Presentations:

• Inspirational Leadership ... Keeps People
Engaged and Moving Ahead

Have you ever wondered why people will walk through fire for some leaders or follow them anywhere just to see where the heck they are going? What do Kenneth Chenault, CEO American Express; Oprah Winfrey, CEO of Harpo Productions; and Christopher Cowdray, CEO of the Dorchester Collection Hotels, teach us about inspirational leadership? What sets these leaders apart? What gives them that special competitive edge? The answer is they have developed the ability to inspire others to do and be their best. It is about the insight and wisdom to connect with your people in ways that turn a team into a community, accountability into trust, and language into people bridges. It's about giving followers the tools and skills they need to fulfill their inborn desire for achievement and contribution.

What is your obligation as inspiring leader? It's to motivate, challenge, guide and train your workforce for productivity and sustainability. Dr. Bethel helps clarify and identify the essential 21st century leadership qualities of competence, accountability, openness, language, values, perspective, power and humility. These qualities are a fixed beacon giving direction and purpose to every member of your organization. When you inspire others by leading with these qualities, they are more engaged, productive and committed which, in turn, grows your business, benefits your customers and strengthens your brand. There has never been a time when inspired leaders have been needed more. Leadership is not something conferred upon only the highly educated, the rich or the powerful. You can be an inspired leader who makes a difference.[ more ... ]

• The Quantum Leap from Manager to Leader

What's at the heart of the difference between a good manager and a great leader? Does your organization live by and sustain this deeply critical competence? Do you understand the single, overriding factor that is the transforming element necessary to move from the job of manager to the power of being a leader? It is not rocket science, but without it you cannot lead effectively. More organizations and leaders have failed because they lost sight of this one factor than any other cause. Once it is firmly in place, all else is possible, you can move mountains.

Dr. Bethel demystifies the seemingly magic component – the DNA – that great leaders and great organization possess. Using her experience working with over 3,000 organizations, Sheila explains and demonstrates how to capture, understand and apply the how and why of this single element in everyday situations. She uses real-life examples your audience understands. They'll see that the crew of Apollo 13 had it, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs both have it, and Andrea Jung, CEO of Avon, has it. Now is the right time to invite Sheila to share these rich insights on how to earn trust, loyalty and respect by discovering the one concept that allows people to make the quantum leap from manger to leader.[ more ... ]

• Lemons into Lemonade ... How to Get – and
Stay – Motivated in Tough Times

What are the enduring personal strengths needed to stay motivated and inspired in tough times? Can you really motivate yourself into a better life, satisfying job and fulfilling relationships? In this reassuring and timely presentation Sheila gives you a set of powerful life tools, step-by-step actions to build resilience, staying power and enthusiasm for surviving and thriving even in the worst of times.

Dr. Sheila deepens your understanding of the extraordinary Five Secrets To Happiness. Every day we see examples of people who have embraced these compelling principles to survive and conquer hardships. Michael J. Fox, the late Christopher Reeves, many cancer survivors, and the "come-back people" of Hurricane Katrina, all discovered these eternal insights and wisdom. You will see that when they are used daily, they can literally turn your life around.

You learn to avoid the "negativity trap" and turn pessimistic responses and attitudes into positive actions. You will reexamine how to tap into your inner strengths, values, belief systems and commitment so you have a fresh and better perspective on both your business and personal life. The bottom line is that you can live happier, improve your relationships, and be in more control of your surroundings as you design the rich fulfilling life you deserve. Lemons into Lemonade is all about common sense skills that help you do and be your best, especially in tough times.[ more ... ]

• The Art and Skill of Creating and Leading
Dynamic Teams

Is your organization using all the team-building tools available to chart a course for the future you want? More than any other leadership quality, the art of team building encompasses all of your other talents. It is the catalyst to all you want to accomplish. Times have changed and so has the concept of team building. In a world where people feel increasingly disconnected and isolated, collaboration, trust and camaraderie become more valuable every day. Technology gives us excellent tools as aids for team building. However, in the process of using these tools, we have become technologically excellent and humanly challenged. We must make sure that we continually make those human connections, no matter how far flung we are, across the office or across the world. We all want to be a part of something larger than we are, to feel that we can make a difference.

How do you create an environment where teams are born and thrive? The payoffs for great team building are enormous. To build and sustain your team you must concentrate on the five basics of servant-leader team building: directing, motivating, training, delegating and reward and recognition. People want to be led, not managed. As leader, you control the environment where teams are born, nurtured and thrive. Football coaches Tom Landry and Vince Lombardi and business leaders Indra Nooyi of PepsiCo and Ursula Burns of Xerox are classic examples Sheila uses to expand thinking about teams. Dr. Bethel expands thinking, stirs imaginations and opens minds about being a team builder in an age where working together cohesively has more challenges than anything we could have imagined in the 20th century. It's a new world, and we must take a new look at the art and skill of team building in the 21st century![ more ... ]

• Leading Others Through the Gauntlet of Change

Making real change is the hardest process any person or organization ever confronts. It is also one of the most rewarding. Yet some people resist productive change. What causes these barriers and why are they so hard to overcome? How can you stay sane, healthy and effective in times of turbulence?

What are the indispensible ABCs of personal and organizational change? In her content-rich change program, Dr. Sheila Murray Bethel lays out clear, common sense how-to's designed to help you and your organization keep up with ambiguity and uncertainty as you move forward into a prosperous future. You'll learn how to maintain a sense of humor and balance while gaining more control in any change process. Using her own life filled with extraordinary change, going from the ironing board to the executive board, Sheila shares a wealth of ideas, actions and skills that decrease stress, prevent burnout, increase productivity and make work and life more enjoyable. Discover how Jim Senegal, CEO of Costco, and Donna Shalala, President of the University of Miami, maintain productivity amidst change. You'll learn how the language of change keeps people and situations in perspective, motivates and inspires a bias for action, builds cooperation and trust, and maintains focus on key issues in our topsy-turvy world. Leading in times of change is like making bread – you are the yeast that helps people rise to the occasion. Whether you lead a small team or major organization, Dr. Bethel fills your toolbox with a strong set of change tactics to lead others through the gauntlet of change.[ more ... ]

• Unforgettable Customer Service Begins With
Great Leadership

What can you learn by examining the shared values and practices of world-class service organizations such as: Costco, Southwest Airlines, FedEx, the Dorchester Collection Hotels, and Nordstrom's? Dr. Sheila Murray Bethel has given keynote presentations and conducted seminars for some of the finest service organizations in the world. She carefully explores the compelling evidence of their clear understanding of their reasons for being and their belief in a people-first leadership style. These organizations walk their talk and live an ethic that says "we care as much about our employees as our customers." They understand that excellent customer service is always trickle down – leader to employee to customer. Sheila challenges commonly held myths about who you think your competition is and why a new perspective is so important. You'll explore the 3 steps to move from customer service to the enduring quality of value-added customer focus:
Customer Servicing, the operations part, doing the task well.
Customer Relations, the human part, those one-on-one interactions.
Customer Development, the sales and retention part that brings
true satisfaction to every transaction.

Dr. Bethel ties these three concepts together as links in a circular chain that has a single purpose: a satisfied, happy, loyal, referral-generating customer. Sheila offers powerful and practical ideas to help you convert customers into "ambassadors of good will" whose referrals cement your reputation, support your brand and set you apart from your competitors. These 3 strategic tools open the way for you to join the realm of customer service giants and become a trendsetter, not a follower. Unforgettable customer service always begins with an investment in great servant leadership.[ more ... ]

• Where the Rubber Hits the Road ... Exceptional
Frontline Customer Service

Would you be shocked to learn that 68% of your customers who quit doing business with you do so because they were treated badly? In our increasingly competitive global environment, you cannot afford to be a part of that statistic. Because response matters and caring really does count, it is critical that an emotional connection with your customers is at the very foundation of your service ethic. This connection is often the most underestimated and under-used service quality. The best frontline people – in person, on the phone or on the net – are those with not only the standard skills of: calming upset customers, asking questions and being a good listener; they have that all important emotional connection that says, "we really care about you as a customer and we want to earn your loyalty." The most successful customer service teams have values and beliefs about serving others that translates into the ability to create loyal customers who become your unpaid ambassadors of goodwill.

Dr. Sheila Murray Bethel's "The 4 A's of World Class Service" have struck a responsive cord in organizations around the world. This formula has propelled entire customer service departments from mediocre to outstanding. Sheila gives a new depth and meaning to the whole concept of customer service as an attitude, not a department. Unintentionally, every organization has a "sales prevention team." Be sure your frontline people are not inadvertently part of the problem, but rather part of the solution. This program is the perfect complement, a welcome addition, to all of your other customer service initiatives. It will enhance them, deepening the understanding of how and why true service benefits not only your customers and your company, but how and why it adds to the quality of life for your frontline people.[ more ... ]

Books by Dr. Bethel

Dr. Bethel's latest book A New Breed of Leader, 8 Leadership Qualities that Matter Most in the Real world, What Works, What Doesn't and Why, (Putnam/Berkley) is praised for its timeliness, "... uniquely in tune with our era of change ... right book, right time." It draws on fifteen years of research and work with her global corporate clients, governments and education systems. She defines the eight qualities leaders need to implement to meet the challenges and opportunities of the 21st century. This indispensible book is your roadmap to becoming the best leader you can be for yourself and your organization. Publication in China is September 2010.

Making A Difference, 12 Qualities that Make You A Leader (Putnam/Berkley), a national best seller, has been translated into eight languages and was the basis for two acclaimed public television specials by the same title. Sheila teaches and motivates through her own inspiring personal leadership journey and that of countless others who have used their leadership ability to help improve both businesses and personal lives.[ more ... ]

Reflections on Leadership: How Robert K. Greenleaf's Theory of Servant Leadership Influenced Today's Top Management Thinkers (Wyle) is a collaboration with Peter Senge, M. Scott Peck, Max DePree, Ron Zemke and other leadership experts. An in-depth look at the results of the seminal work of Robert Greenleaf, the father of modern leadership. Edited by Larry Spears all profits are donated to the Greenleaf foundation.[ more ... ]