FORT SILL, Okla. (Aug. 6, 2015) -- More than 200 Soldiers and civilians filled Kerwin Auditorium, July 28, for a leadership seminar.
The event featured Stedman Graham, who spoke on "Identity Leadership" and his "Nine-step Plan for Success."
"The most important question anyone will ask you is, 'do you know who you are?'" he said. "And when you don't know who you are, what happens? Someone else defines it for you. You become lost in the world. That pretty much sums it up."
Graham, who served in the Army and was stationed in Germany, shared a story about a time when he was 14 years old and didn't have a sense of identity. He lived in a small town with one convenience store. The store was owned by a man who went by the name "T.A." Hanging out at the store with his friends, Graham began to admire T.A.
As his basketball skills developed, Graham knew he would attend college on a basketball scholarship and shared the news with T.A. who responded saying he would not go to college because everyone in his family was dumb.
"Don't let anybody in the world define who you are," said Graham, who did go to college. "If you let them define you, they will define you as less than them."
The seminar included time for the audience to ask questions which ranged from who was his mentor, to addressing barriers to success and finally on how military members can transition into civilian life. Graham said the key for a smooth transition is to start now.
"If you can prepare for your life early on, you can succeed," he said. "Success is when preparation meets opportunity."
Sgt. Curtis Holman, a patrol supervisor, said he attends all the leadership classes and seminars available on post.
"The only way to get better is to learn from someone who has been there," Holman said. "I get as much as I can out of it. I learn a lot, get new ideas, learn a new way of doing things or it confirms the old ways."
Graham is the chairman and CEO of S. Graham & Associates and the author of 11 books, the most recent, "Identity: Your Passport to Success" was a Wall Street Journal bestseller.
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