Mastering Fear - Recognize and harness emotion in order to

realize excellence in our health, work, and relationships.

Facilitated by Jesse DePriest, DePriest Consulting, LLC

Fear is a natural and necessary human emotion that keeps us safe ... and if not managed well, will block us from achieving higher levels of excellence in our work, health, and relationships. If we can identify and name the fear, we can then create appropriate mechanisms to honor it - but also not allow it to block our efforts to improve and grow. Then, we can apply these lessons and techniques to our teams to help them breakthrough fear-based barriers that are holding us back. Teams become stronger as a result, our relationships and bonds with each other are strengthened, and we achieve higher levels of performance. Appropriately combatting fear is necessary for growth. I have seen fear block good-intentioned, smart people from realizing their dreams. And leaders and teams stay stuck in their status quo because they fail to recognize the fear-emotion and lack the insights and tools needed to overcome them. Why do some people struggle to get started? Why do some people sabotage their achievements? what make some people stumble when they seem to have all the requisite skills to soar? Why do some leaders abuse their people and treat them harshly? And what can be done to change these patterns and their outcomes? This interactive discussion will present a model and a kaizen way to overcome these obstacles in order to realize the life we desire.

Participants will learn four key skills to build a healthy response to fear - so we can stay safe - but not allow it to block us from the success we desire in our lives. This interactive discussion will present a model for thinking about the destructive emotional "DANGERS" response to fear, how we might see it in ourselves and others - and what we can do about it. Using Kaizen, learners will be able to apply lean thinking in their work to overcome fear and realize greater levels of success – and apply a simple coaching approach to help others see and overcome their fears.

Jesse is a Lean/SS Black Belt with a passion for lean leadership / coaching, strategic planning, problem solving, and team-based process improvement. He has over 30 years of senior leadership experience in manufacturing and banking/ service industries. He holds a BS degree in Mechanical Engineering, a Master of Science in Operations Management, an MBA, and served in the US Army for eight years as an officer and helicopter pilot. Jesse has taught Lean Principles and Operational Excellence through the Metro Community College, Midland University MBA, and served as ASQ-1302 Board Chair, Committee Member for Iowa Lean Consortium, Board Member of the Value Stream Management Consortium, and is Partner in Growth Guru. Jesse is the founder of “5L” – Nebraska’s Lean Leadership Collaborative and he is a Vistage executive coach and provides lean leadership coaching, mentoring, and consulting services to clients throughout the Midwest.