Mike Lipkin

We’re coming into 2023 with eyes wide open. We expect it to be hard. We expect a recession. We expect the war to continue. We expect interest rates to rise further. We expect a pause before we hit fast-forward again. We’re girding ourselves for the grind. The good news is that the bad news is already baked in. The prevailing mindset is pessimistic. Difficulty is easier to handle when it’s anticipated. I would rather anticipate hardship and prepare for good fortune than anticipate good fortune and be unprepared for hardship.

Here are Mike Lipkin’s Seven Ways To Rebound In The Year of The Rabbit:

• Choose Courage.
• Pace Yourself. Achieve internal equilibrium.
• Believe In Your Impact. If not you, then who?
• Focus On Your Prize
• Trade Certainty For Speed
• Cultivate Close Connections.
• Express Your Joie De Vivre.

Here are Mike Lipkin’s 7 steps to being The Safe Bet:

• Tell people what you’re doing to do for them with clarity and conviction just like I’m doing with you now.
• Make good on your promises. Hold yourself to a higher standard than anyone else will.
• Communicate how well you’ve done for others with tact and discretion.
• Ask people how likely they would be to recommend you to a colleague or a friend. If they don’t respond, give yourself a 0.
• Keep raising your game. Aspire to being a GOAT in your domain.
• When you stumble or fumble, acknowledge your failure and publicly commit to growing from it.
• Do it now. Perfect is whatever you can achieve today so you can make it even more perfect tomorrow.

Ask yourself these questions through the never-ending crises: Why is this the best thing that could have happened right now? How could I have pre-empted the problem? How can I become better and stronger? What must I focus on to achieve my desired outcome? What do I need to let go of? Why will I laugh about this in a month’s time? How do I become more valuable to the people who are valuable to me? How must I show up to relieve other people of their anxiety?

Here’s Mike Lipkin’s secret of success in the new world disorder: Become the source of other people’s joy and optimism and they will literally find more time for you. Train people to expect you to be always on for them. If you lift others up, they will help you rise above your own fears. Act the part if you want to win the role.

The difference between panic and power is your belief in your ability to control your circumstances. The greater your confidence, the more actions you’ll take to tilt the world in your favour.  Expectations are self-fulfilling prophecies.

So here is Mike Lipkin’s Recipe For Winning In The Contradiction Economy:

• Step back to step forward. Look for pattern recognition. See beyond your everyday. Form your perspective by studying the data and talking to the people who really know. Take the time to reflect on your experience. Express your opinion. Lose your fear of sounding stupid – we’re all rookies in the new reality. Practice being vocal. Make space for new ideas by letting go of what doesn’t serve you anymore.
• Live on purpose. Get clear on how you’re bringing value to your communities, colleagues and customers. Make a big promise that explicitly declares how you will help them win. Here’s mine: I will help you achieve remarkable results with proven insights that inspire you into highly effective actions.
• Plan your work and work your plan. Decide on the actions you need to take, then take them – with discipline and conviction. Course correct as you go along. Be intentional. Focus on what matters – say no to what doesn’t count so you can say yes to what does.
• Get out there – both virtually and physically. Redefine your relationship with risk. Reach out and touch someone with your words and wisdom. Use all the resources and media available to you. Cultivate your connections with people who can mobilize opportunities on your behalf. Be generous with your gifts. The best people will always reciprocate
• Remember: you are built for this. Wherever you are is where you’re meant to be because that’s where you are. You cannot change how you got here. You can change where you go from here. It’s always your next move. Other people are counting on you to make it.

The world is heating up in every way. From actual climate change to geopolitical instability to supply chain disruption to economic volatility to food and energy insecurity to labour shortages to rising interest rates and inflation to recessionary slowdowns, we’re facing an unprecedented convergence of crises and fear. Hooah, this summer is going to be a doozy.

In his role as a social researcher and leadership coach, Mike is seeing Five Explicit Success Trends that differentiate the winners from the strugglers. Here they are:

• Prepare for Perma-Chaos: Black Swans are flying in flocks. So prepare for a permanent surprise – to the upside, downside and all sides. It’s not just about tolerance for ambiguity and fluidity; it’s about developing a passion for them.
• Form Alliances with Champion Partners. In the New Abnormal, the winners are multiplying their expertise, enriching their perspectives and expanding their influence by aligning with the best players in their category..
• Build Personal Evidence-Based Optimism. There are always reasons to believe in the future, no matter what the immediate situation. Winners are continually building their case for optimism. They’re doing their learning and learning by doing.
• Do The Right Thing On Purpose. Talent follows vision. Trust comes from executing on one’s vision. Making a difference is how winners make their money.
• Show Joy and Compassion. For many people, work is a source of stress and unhappiness.

Embrace the boundless opportunities that lie ahead, for they bring both excitement and uncertainty. Regardless of your industry, the rapid advancements in technology hold immense potential for groundbreaking transformations. If you have an appetite for profound shifts, the future is your playground. However, if you resist change, the prospect of irrelevance becomes even more daunting. Disruption is inevitable; there is no safe haven. You must choose to be the disruptor or risk becoming the disrupted. In his compelling moonshot presentation, Mike will guide you on adapting, navigating, and pivoting in a manner that not only inspires and delights others but also leaves them exhilarated. Unlock the seven secrets to thriving amidst monumental change, positioning yourself as the most sought-after collaborator. Through captivating stories of individuals and companies who have rewritten the rules, forged new markets, and redefined the very essence of what lies ahead, Mike Lipkin will illustrate each secret, empowering you to conquer the ever-evolving landscape.

Breaking out of a burnout cycle is difficult. First, you must have insight: nothing happens until you recognize you’re burned out and something must change. Next, you need to make a plan to change, because finding a path out of burnout takes preparation and patience. As importantly, changing how you think, feel and behave takes time and effort. If you don’t change those, you’re bound to repeat the cycle. Third, addressing burnout requires system change, as it’s a workplace or a lifestyle challenge, not just a one-time problem to be solved.

Here’s a crucial truth: the only human being on earth you can control is yourself. Believing this, at a cellular level, takes time and work, but once you’ve done it, it will be freeing. Once you understand and accept that you can only control yourself, you’ll stop trying to change or control anyone else.  You’ll use your energy to control what you can – your thoughts, feelings and behaviours.

If you’re feeling confused, overwhelmed, fatigued or frightened, you’re normal. If you don’t, you probably don’t know what’s going on. Courage means being willing to confront your doubts and fears. It means preparing to be wrong so you can embrace what’s right. It means constantly exploring and experimenting with new ways of working. Whatever happens next, trial and error will be integral to your progress. Fast fumbling, stumbling and failures will be the hallmarks of those who lead the way for others to follow. Some of your failures will be in private – those are easier to handle. But some will be public – those will be painful. Either way, you must go through them.

So here are Mike Lipkin’s 4 steps for Recalibrating Your Mental Model

• Think about 3 important situations where you’re not achieving the results you want. They could be personal or professional. It’s where you feel like you’re being blocked, thwarted or frustrated in your endeavours.
• Think about your Mental Model regarding each situation. Specifically think about how you are contributing to the breakdown or failure or lack of progress..
• Think about the changes you need to make. Decide what to stop doing. Decide what to start doing. Decide how you’ll monitor your effectiveness. Decide who can help you stay on track.
• Take action. Experiment with different approaches. Be willing to be awkward on yoiur way to being awesome. Be authentic and vulnerable with the people around you. Tell them that you’re trying out new ways to increase your effectiveness and contribution to them