Guest speaker changes the way students lead through talk

Shelby Saylors, For the Review

Igniting change with yourself was the topic discussed by a guest speaker on Thursday, Oct. 8 in the Ted Wilson Gymnasium.

Tish Norman gave the audience four ways to challenge the way people live their lives using her own experiences in her talk, “History, Herstory, YOURstory.”

A “personal leadership brand” she called it. Norman said that your brand “is a motivator for you.” It is what people know and say about you because it is unique.

During her talk, Norman went through the process of getting your own brand. She began with identifying what she called your mission statement and strategic plan. She said this would help identify what your mission in life is.

She also talked about having a motto. Norman says your motto can get you from where you are to where you want to be.

Norman emphasized on being selective and strategic in the friends that you make. She compared it to being friends with chickens, who are the followers, or with eagles, the challengers.

Norman says that finding a mentor and someone to look up to would help you achieve having a personal leadership brand. She said that you develop relationships with people because it is not who you know, it is who knows you.

She concluded her talk by telling the audience that it’s the hyphen, or dash, in your life that really matters because “it’s the stuff you do in the middle.” Norman says our experiences in our life are what form that dash.

“So when that day comes when we leave this earth, somebody is going to say something we did other than we were cute,” Norman said.

It’s the lives we touch around us and how we used our talents and abilities that influence our dash.

Norman is the executive director of Transforming Leaders Now a graduate from Kentucky State University and has a master’s degree in education from Pepperdine University. She currently is pursuing a doctorate in Pan-African studies.