I was called on stage to receive an award for the best speech in my region from the Distributed Education Clubs of America (DECA) conference in Cherry Hill, NJ. I was 17, at my first conference ever, with a DECA Business teacher and a few other seniors in High School.

I was so nervous to be on stage as me, not a character in a school play. I had to "act" confident because I wasn't feeling it. And I wasn't even speaking! I was just accepting an award. The speech that I delivered where I won the award was given to a much smaller audience of about 30.

But this event gave me that awesome experience of being in front of a cheering, clapping audience. I loved it.

Acting in High School turned into speaking a lot in adulthood. Speaking turned into training and facilitation as a vocation and it's been an amazingly fun career.

My interest in business in High School turned into a corporate career.

I have always loved working on teams at work because interacting with others while collaborating to create something or put on an event was so rewarding.

I also became pretty good at helping people build better relationships, communicate better, and understand the benefits of personal growth.

In my 30s I began studying personality types because I love people. I became a speed reader using Myers Briggs.

I went back to college in my 40s and got my BA in Psychology and my MS in Education and along the way became proficient with the Enneagram personality styles.

I can talk about personality all day! It's one of my favorite things to teach and share with people.

In my 50s I started my Emerge Leadership Academy business and have trained over 3000 people in the past 10 years, from over 150 companies, on how to use their personality at work, using Everything DiSC.

As a Certified Facilitator and Authorized Partner of Wiley & Sons, Everything DiSC personality tools since 2016, I help professionals in Human Resources (HR) and Learning & Development (L&D) become Certified Practitioners of the Everything DiSC courses in Catalyst.

Learn more about Catalyst:

DiSC classes provide experiential transformational experiences and as a certified facilitator, you can have this power too.

When you help build a culture of improved communication and collaboration within your organization, you can impact your workforce's productivity, service, and innovation.

Next Tuesday I'll come full circle as I've been asked to present at a leadership conference where about 600 - 700 teenagers from High Schools across CT will attend the 2024 CT FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America). The title of my speech is "Who are you?"

They'll leave the session with a better understanding of their DiSC personality style so they can own their strengths and move forward with confidence.

This is where leadership begins, as a young adult who knows themselves and can communicate and collaborate with people of all styles.

This next generation will be practicing their speaking skills, interviewing strategies, computer programming skills, and a whole host of other challenge-type events at the conference.

The world has changed a lot since I was a senior in HS, but personalities remain the same. Helping our youth learn about and capitalize on their unique style is a fun way I can add value and help make a difference.

Now I'm a different kind of senior giving back to help those young people learn more about themselves.

Helping people, regardless of their age, is what gives me purpose.

Let me know if you need help discovering your purpose.

All my best,

Maureen

If you are in HR or L&D and want to learn more about becoming an Everything DiSC Certified Facilitator and how you can be a catalyst for culture change in your organization, let's talk.