Today, Express Employment Professionals is hosting a leadership event featuring speakers including author Marshall Goldsmith, former NBA player Shaquille O’Neal, and motivational speaker Kaplan Mobray.

As the event occurs, we here at Movin’ On Up will be live blogging the speeches and bringing you the highlights from the event. So, keep reading as we update this blog post with job search advice, leadership wisdom, and stories of hope straight from our celebrity speakers.

Marshall Goldsmith
Marshall Goldsmith is an author, editor, and leadership expert who has sold more than two million copies of his books and has written three New York Times bestsellers. He has written 35 books and is ranked as the #1 executive coach in the world by Global Gurus. Here’s what Marshall had to say:

“You can ask a person one question to determine their level of belief: Do you want to bet on it?”

When it comes to changing the behavior of others, “If they don’t care – don’t waste your time.” Further, “If you don’t care, don’t waste your time.”

“If you want to improve, it has to come from your heart. If your motivation doesn’t come from your heart, you won’t do it.”

“Next time you get into that ‘I gotta win and I gotta be right’ mindset, take a deep breath and ask yourself, what am I winning?”

“In the game of life, you’re all winners.”

Marshall’s steps for developing yourself as a leader and partner:

• Ask – “How can I be better?”
• Listen – Don’t make excuses; listen.
• Think – Avoid speaking when angry or out of control.
• Thank – Don’t punish the messenger.
• Respond – Ask for ideas for the future, not more feedback about the past.
• Involve – Set a clear goal, write it down, and get people to help you achieve it.
• Change – You have to follow-up and stick with it to make a change.
• Follow Up – Frequency is more important than duration.

“As a leader, what should I do if I make a mistake? Apologize.”

“Don’t pick a  laundry list of things to improve. Just pick one thing and try to get better.”

• According to Marshall, we are the best person to blame for our problems.

Marshall suggests never promising to do everything people say. Leadership isn’t a popularity contest. Instead, listen to everyone’s suggestions and involve them.

“We can all get better at something.”

“It is much easier to change behavior than it is to change perception.”

“In leadership, it does not matter what we say, it matters what they hear.”

Marshall has a challenge: Write down questions that are important in your life, and answer every question with a “yes,” “no,” or number. Fill it out every day. You’ll find that our values are easy to talk about, but hard to live.

Examples of these questions include: “How many times did you try to prove you were right when it was not worth it?” Or, “How many angry or destructive comments did you make about people today?” “How many push-ups did you do?” “How many minutes did you write?” “Are you up-to-date on your physical exam?”

“Get in the habit of writing what is most important in your life every day, and testing yourself on the values you believe in.”

“If you really want to be the person you want to be, measure it every day.”

“Don’t be ashamed if you need help. We all need help.”

“What we measure in life drives away what we don’t measure. Often times, we measure the wrong things and we don’t measure the right things.”

“Be happy now. If you have a dream, go for it,” Marshall said. “Whether it’s a big dream or a small dream, if you don’t go for it, no one else will.”

Marshall’s business principles: “Life is short, have fun. Do whatever you can do to help people. At the end of the day, that’s what matters. Go for it. You’re not going to always win, but at least you try.”

Shaquille O’Neal
Known for his professional basketball career, Shaquille “Shaq” O’Neal is also a powerful media personality and business leader, as well as an NBA analyst and investor. Here’s what Shaq had to say:

At a very early age, Shaq became a leader both on and off the court. To accomplish his goal of being named with the great players in the NBA, he made reminders for himself to help him get there.

“You learn from your mistakes and you move on.”

Shaq’s advice to young people:
“Educate yourself about finance. Educate yourself about business because it’s not about making the money, it’s about keeping it.”

“I learned from a lot of people’s failures on how to do certain things.”

“My mother is my favorite person, and I never want to let her down.”

Shaq’s advice to kids: “Listen to your parents.”

Shaq says the happiest day of his life was receiving his doctorate degree. When he wanted to ensure he was taken seriously in business meetings, he pursued his master’s degree, and his doctorate soon after.

When asked what advice he hopes his kids learn from him, Shaq said, “Be humble, always have a generosity gene, be thankful.”

“You have to trust in your teammates. As a leader, you have to lead in a way so people follow you because they want to, as opposed to because they have to.”

“As a leader, you create more leaders.”

“You can do nothing by yourself.”

“As a leader, you have to be humble enough to take criticism from your teammates.”

On building relationships with people you trust: “I hire people 100 times smarter than me. I hire people that could potentially run the organization, and I realize I don’t know everything.”

“I’ve been trained to not worry about the problem; worry about the solution.”

“Invest in things that are gonna make a difference for people.”

“I try to inspire people every day, especially through humor, whether it’s something big or something small.”

“I’ve been able to inject humor in my brand, and it’s taken me a long way.”

“The brand that was has to relinquish itself to the brand that is.”

“My core values are: humor, giving, humility, aiming for excellence and not perfection.”

“I think the ones who stick to their core values are the ones who are very successful.”

“I just want people to say Shaq was a nice guy. It is more gratifying to me to meet a person and make their day, or meet a kid and tell them a story.”

“No one can become great by themselves. I wish I could take all the credit, but all the philanthropy I’m involved in was created by my mother.”

When he picks team members, Shaq looks for the following characteristics:
Same goals, listens, leadership potential, determination, great follower.

“When you’re smart and you’ve got smarter people working for you, it’s a win-win situation.”

Shaq’s advice to Millennials who become leaders:
“Do it your way. Be innovative. You also have to believe that before you succeed, you must first learn to fail. Learn from your failures. Have a lot of drive and have a lot of push.”

Kaplan Mobray
An innovative mastermind and motivational speaker, Kaplan Mobray inspires audiences with practical strategies to create and elevate careers.

Kaplan’s 10 Ls of Leadership:

1. Leadership is a choice.
“Leadership is not about the title or role you have, it’s about those daily choices you make.”

Kaplan challenges you to create an “I choose” statement. For example, “I choose to help others.” Know what your “I choose” statement is. At the end of the day, that statement will drive you to make important decisions. If you don’t know your “I choose” statement, create it. If you don’t know the “I choose” statement of those on your team, go find out what it is.

2. Leaders have vision.
Know your superpowers. Create a superhero persona that will help your vision take shape.

“Anything you’re doing in life to drive a result for others starts with having an expected outcome of what will happen.”

“Leaders don’t wait to see what happens, they have a preview of what will happen.”

“Never plan a strategy without planning celebration.” “Always look for the kryptonite as you look to save the day. You should plan for failure as much as you plan for success.”

3. Leaders are good listeners.
“Great leaders listen with four ears.” Listen for what you heard. Listen for what I hear, but I did not hear. Listen for what you expected to hear. Listen for your response.

Powerful listening allows you to build trust with your team.

4. Leaders share the journey.
“Your credibility as a leader is built by how you delegate work and how you share the journey.”

As a leader:
“Never assign a task to a person. Assign people to the task. Show appreciation for the effort, not just the outcome. Share the credit, and take the blame.”

5. Leaders simplify and innovate.
People trust leaders to make it simple to execute ideas. Powerful leaders do a very important thing – they create the “pass it on” moment.

6. Leaders get to know their people.
Get to know your co-workers and people in your life by their health, wealth, family, and dreams.

7. Leaders command respect.
Ask yourself this question: what is the thing you most respect about yourself? Then, ask yourself: what is the thing that other people most respect about you? Finally, ask yourself: what is your guiding principle?

“You build respect when people know your principles. Make sure the people on your team know your guiding principles.”

8. Leaders are accountable and seek feedback.
What is the most powerful piece of feedback you’ve ever received? Feedback is what drives growth, and what drives you to new and improved results. But, we often run from feedback.

“Great leaders embed feedback in how they lead, and it’s how they build powerful trust within their people.”

“Seek feedback from those you like and trust, but also from those you don’t.”

“Act on the feedback that you gave.”

9. Leaders work to be succeeded.
There are people who are looking to you as a leader so they can succeed. Therefore, it’s important to know what succession plan you are part of.

“Your impact should be transferred to future impact, because you’re working to make a better difference for those that will come after you.”

“Leaders are successful when they successfully secure the succession of their success to succeed successfully.”

10. Leaders have passion.
Effort times energy divided by purpose equals passion.

Leadership is about lifting someone up, making a difference, and being passionate about what you are doing to drive a result.

“Leaders know when to get out of the way.”

You should never leave a day without having a “what if” conversation with someone in your organization.

You should also have a “what’s next” conversation.